


Remade

by historicallyredacted (lockandkey)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Canon Compliant Couples (Mostly), Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M, Gen, Gen Fic, M/M, Multi, Non-binary character, Not Canon Compliant, Reborn Demigods, Some Mild Gender Fuckery, Trans Character, non romantic story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2019-07-05 19:38:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15870384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lockandkey/pseuds/historicallyredacted
Summary: Luke and Bianca both elect to be reborn. Leo's "cure" doesn't work at the end of BoO, and he also elects to be reborn.Luke is Luke, Bianca is Bianca, so why is Leo... not Leo?A story of young demigods finding their path in life, under the thumb of their past selves reputation. Also, monsters and unfortunate crushes and things like that.





	1. Summer Camp Blues

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so important note here....  
> This is a story I started writing awhile back, but ended up never publishing because I wasn't sure how well it would go over because...Gender Gets Complicated.  
> "Gender Benders" or "Cis-swaps" or whatever you want to call them are sort of a touchy subject for understandable reasons. A lot of stories end up being a bit transphobic, though obviously there are many that just want to explore how a character would react in a distinctly different situation, as most AUs do.
> 
> In this, Leo is reborn and is defined female at birth. Named "Cleo" ...because I'm not very inventive.  
> I want to stress that Leo is still Leo, and in this story has some pretty sizable issues connected to their gender. At the beginning of the story, I'll be using primarily she/her pronouns, but as "Cleo" ages, that will begin to change.  
> I might be projecting here, as a nonbinary person myself, but given Leo's canon relationship to not really understanding "organic life forms" I'm of the opinion that Leo doesn't really understand gender in a personal sense; it doesn't really matter to him, because it doesn't have a function he can make use of. But, other peoples expectations of him might change that, and influence how he refers to himself and others, because Leo really wants to fit in. 
> 
> This isn't a huge aspect of the story, but basically I wanted to give Leo more personal issues because I like to hurt those that I love.  
> I just wanted to give those who are curious a heads up, because over the course of things she/her may slide towards they/them, and occasionally he/him. 
> 
> There's no romance really outside established couples, and even then pretty mild. But, Nico does get to go all Over Protective Big Bro eventually, so there's that.  
> All three kids get their limelight. Just, I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea regarding Leo's character in this.
> 
> Overly Long Authors Note Complete.

  
 “ **C** amp what now?” Cleo frowned from the front seat of her aunties sedan, the news was enough to stop her from booting the dashboard. “I thought we were going on vacation, not that you were sending me to _summer_ _camp_.”

 “Well, we _are_ in New York, so it's sort of like vacation?” Sierra offered, smiling awkwardly. “It's for your own good anyway, Cleo.”

 Cleo snorted. “My own good? What does that even mean? I bet you just want to ditch me to go hang out with rich bachelors on Broadway, or whatever.”

 “Any rich bachelors on Broadway probably wouldn't be interested in me, Cleo.”

 “What's that supposed to mean?”

 “You'll know when you're older,”

 “I already know what _gay_ is, Sierra. Jeez, I'm a kid, not stupid. I meant you shouldn't think they're all gay just because they're in Broadway.” Sierra sighed deeply. “So, what kind of camp is it? Not band right, you've seen me in band before.” It ended badly. Tubas were never meant to be airborne.

 “That’s really not what I meant…but…no,” Sierra laughed. “Not band camp, though there are plenty of musicians. You'll like it there, trust me. You'll have a lot of fun.”

 Cleo threw her legs up on the dashboard again, skinny legs in ripped up leggings and oversized bulky boots that didn't suit the rental car they were currently in.

“I don't know if I believe you.”

 “Well, you don't really get a say in the matter. Plus, we’re almost there.” Sierra sighed while flipping on her wipers. The rain was beginning to come down a bit harder. In fact, it was coming down faster than ever, oddly fast.  
Sierra cursed out loud.

 “I can't see a damned thing in this-”

 Something dark came up in front of them, a gigantic shape, causing both in the car to scream as they swerved off the road, and into a ditch on the side. The fall wasn't far, but it left them both rattled.

 “Of course, of course. I knew this would happen, of course. Should have known.” Sierra grumbled unbuckling, and checking on Cleo who was more than a bit dizzy.

 “Wh-what, what the hell? What happened? What even is that?” Cleo gasped, eyes big but otherwise looking fine.

 “Another car,” Sierra said like it was a mild inconvenience, leaning over Cleo to unbuckle the 9 year old as well. “We're going on foot now.

 Cleo sat up alarmed. “On foot? Are you insane? In this weather? I don't like the rain. Or cold.”

 “I'm aware Cleo, but right now, you don't really get an opinion. We have to go now, and hopefully those in front of us made it there alright...”

 Cleo glared, before opening the car door. “At night. In the rain. Into the woods. This couldn't get any worse. I hope you know this is like _ten_ horror movie clichés in one. Is this where the monster jumps out and eats us?”

 Sierra shot her a look, very definitely saying, 'don't you dare tempt fate.'

 “Whatever. Let's go check that car!” Cleo said, jumping out into the ditch with a splash. Sierra held up her hand to tell Cleo to stop, but Cleo was already clambering up the slope and onto the road.

 “Cleo!” Sierra hissed. “Get back here right now.”

 Cleo rolled her eyes, she already had a coat and hat on. It wasn't like they were going to freeze or anything. As she got up to the other sedan in the road, Cleo tilted her head. It didn't look it was run off, or spun out. There was no obvious damage on the vehicle, no one was around or in the car.

 “I guess they went on foot too...” Cleo mumbled, looking up the road for answers. A large tree was off in the distance, standing against the dark backdrop starkly every time lightning flashed in the sky.

 Sierra grabbed the back of Cleo's coat sharply and tugged the child backwards. “Stay by me, at all costs.”

 “At all costs, what the heck are you talking about?” Cleo glared, before getting a backpack shoved into her stomach with an oomph. “Gently! I'm delicate!”

 “Come on,” Sierra tugged her along. “We'll stay on the road, anything that's seen us already knows we're here, going in the woods won't help any right now. This way we can tell if anything is sneaking up on us or not.”

 “What the hell would be sneaking up on us on Manhattan island?! Do they have poisonous anything here? You weren't this worried even when I was 5 and brought home a live rattlesnake!”

 Sierra didn't say anything, but the look on her face took Cleo by surprise.

 “We're....we're going to be okay, aren't we?”

 “Maybe.”

 Cleo didn't say anything, just sidled up close and walked as quickly as possible.

As they got closer and closer to that big tree, Cleo began to hear noises. It sounded like banging, clunking, something going spectacularly oddly just up ahead.

 “What's that?” Cleo whispered, grabbing onto Sierra's jacket. “Is it a Venetian mask wearing mass murdering ex-con?”

 “That's a lot of imagery. I doubt it, but...”

 “But?! Are you implying it _could_ be a Venetian mask wearing mass murdering… whatever I said?”

 “No, but it might be something...not good.” Sierra frowned and stopped. She turned Cleo around and unzipped her backpack and pulled out a gun.

 “Holy shit, where did you get a gun?! I thought you were anti-guns! I thought you were a hippie!” Cleo yelped, stepping backwards and pointed accusingly. “You said you went to college on the west coast!”

 “These bullets won't hurt you,” Sierra said as though it explained anything. “But they might hurt whatever is up there.”

 “Why are we going towards it again? I'd like to go the opposite way actually.” Cleo whined, and turned around to walk the other way but stopped when she realized back where their car had stopped, were a bunch of lurching figures.

 “Um, Sierra.” Cleo pointed, voice up at least 2 octaves. “Maybe they want to help us jump the car?”

 Sierra aimed the gun and shot, just briefly the light of the explosions lit up the figures enough to see. They were distinctly not human. The bullet struck one, and it began to fall over, but instead turned to a golden mist.

 “We're going this way because there is protection this way. That way is those.” Sierra turned back around and urged Cleo to do the same. Cleo had a hard grip on her arm.

 “Uh, why are we turning our backs to them, I'd like to not do that, can we maybe not do that?”

 “They're slow, they won't reach us that quickly if we keep up a good pace. Once we reach the boundary, they can't cross.”

 Cleo let out a loud whine, “can I sprinkle some salt or something?”

 “This isn't television. It doesn't work like that, not unless you already know magic. You'd have to be _her_ daughter to do that without any training.”

 And then a boy flew out of the woods, lighter than air it seemed like, and skidded to a stop on the road in front of them. A... _something_ ran out from the brushes to his side. It looked like a goat. A man goat.

 “What the fuck, shoot it!” Cleo yelped, shaking Sierra's arm, but when she looked up to her she saw her aunt begin to relax for the first time in about 2 hours.

 “Oyster,” Sierra sighed in relief.  
“ _Oyster_?!” Cleo gaped, more horrified at the name than the creature.

 “Sierra! Can you come help?” It belted, looking over the downed boy worriedly. “I'm in _big_ trouble if he buys it here...”

 Sierra jogged over, and Cleo cautiously followed her, turning around every few seconds to check on the shapes that were looming closer towards them.

The boy laying on the ground seemed human, and he was now bleeding from the face. He was blonde, about Cleo's age, maybe a year or two older and lanky; whereas Cleo was short for her age and thin.

 “Who's that?” Cleo whispered, about to poke him with the tip of her boot.

 “Lucas,” the goat man said, turning to look at Cleo. “I see you brought yours too.”

 “They said it was time. I agreed.” Sierra nodded, but Cleo looked between the two curiously.

 “Brought yours? What does that mean? Is...is this some child sacrifice cult?”

 “No, it's a place to protect special kids like yourself, and make sure you get the training to protect yourself.” 'Oyster' said.

 “Okay, what the heck are you?” Cleo glared, arms crossed.

 “Satyr.”

 “No, I get that you're some sort of cosmic satire, but I want to know what you really are.”

 “Not satire, _satyr_.” Lucas groaned sitting up and rubbing his head. “Greek mythology, they're goat men of the forest who protect and train demigods.” Oyster nodded his head a few times.  
“I'm Luke.” He nodded to Cleo who frowned again.

 “Cleo. Can we go now, those things are getting closer and I prefer my internal organs be kept inside my body.”

 “Right, up you go Lucas.” Oyster grabbed Luke by the arm and hauled him up, but the boy seemed a bit woozy from the gash running down the side of his face.

 “Luke,” the boy muttered. “My name is Luke.”

 “Luke!” Another voice called from the woods, before a human seeming girl came running out, holding a large tree branch as a baseball bat. “Luke, are you okay?”

 “I'm fine, B. Probably going to scar, but I'm okay.” He nodded. “What about you?”

 The girl looked a bit frazzled, wavy dark brown hair all askew, what looked like a braid had all but come undone. She was tan, but looked European, like Italian or Spanish, with a bunch of freckles everywhere.

“Fine, I got them mostly away from the entrance, but more are coming.”

 “We need to get you three across now, or....I don't want to think about the consequences.” Oyster mumbled, and Sierra seemed to gulp and nod her head in agreement.

 The freckled girl turned to notice Cleo and smiled, holding out her hand that was covered and dirt and pieces and flecks of mosses and bark.

 “Hi, my name is Bianca, what's yours?”

 “Le-...Cleo. My name is Cleo.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another shortie chapter.

Sierra fired off her gun a few more times in rapid succession, but it did a good job of clearing out the things that were parked in front of the ‘boundary’. The boundary happened to just be a seemingly normal Camp entrance at first glance, at second glance it became a bit more extraordinary.   
The letters were weird, in such a way that it made Cleo squint; Cleo felt like she couldn't read them, yet still understood what was being said, however if she looked too long it'd simply cause a headache.

 Bianca ran in first, followed by Luke, and then grudgingly followed by Cleo; Sierra and Oyster were next in, keeping watch in the back.

Bianca cheered as the boundary seemed to shimmer as they went inside, while Luke grinned to himself and looked ready to tackle more regardless of his wounded head. Oyster seemed to be crying a bit, and Sierra flopped down to sit on the ground with a large sigh of relief.

 “I'm seriously getting too old for this. I've never had one like Cleo before...” Sierra shook her head, breathing out.

 “What does _that_ mean?” Cleo frowned, looking back at the so-called auntie. “What...is any of this? I feel like I'm either actually asleep, or I’m being pranked. If you're trying to make me feel crazy, I think that's called gaslighting, I heard about it on the internet.The internet has never lied to me”

 “You didn't explain it to her?” Oyster exclaimed, sounding highly confused. “That's dangerous Sierra, what if they went off? You know what happened last time...”

 “What ‘last time’?! What is this, seriously!? I don't like not knowing things! People are confusing!” Cleo stomped a foot down and could feel her face heating up in aggravation. “I'm tired of this! Stop ignoring me, stop lying to me!”

 “Cleo, sweetie, calm down. I'll explain everything.” Sierra said gently, but she looked weary, holding out a hand. “Just, calm down, okay?”

 “Don't tell me to _CALM DOWN_!” As Cleo screamed, something happen, it felt fever flush as a warm sensation ran over her entire body. Like every cell in her body woke up all at once.

 Sierra’s eyes got big, and Oyster let out a sad goat noise. At first, Cleo didn’t understand what had happened. And then Cleo looked down and saw that her hands and feet were on fire and screamed. The small fires went out as quickly as they appeared, but the damage was done. Cleo jumped backwards, looking around in alarm as if trying to spot the perpetrator that set her on fire.   
Luke and Bianca were staring, but seemed less scared and more intrigued, but it seemed hard to phase those two.

 “I-”

 “This is what happens when you don't tell them anything,” Oyster huffed. “You're a demigod, Cleo. You've been brought here by your guardian, Sierra, to be among your own kind. You're half god, you’re all half God or Goddess. But, the three of you…You're all a bit of a special cases, but you've got powers. You've _all_ got powers.”

 “Cleo, look, you might have figured this out already, but I'm not really your aunt. I'm not related to you at all...” Sierra said, sighing.

 “I mean, you're like the whitest person that's ever lived, so I kind of guessed it wasn't by blood.” Cleo huffed, but with no real venom to in their voice. “I just didn't picture this conversation happening with my shoes steaming and in front of a goat though.”

 “Satyr!” Oyster chirped.

 “When you were born your father asked me to look after you, because you’re special. You're not like other demigods, neither is Luke or Bianca.” Sierra said softly. “Don't let that go to your head though, punk.”

 “My father?...” Cleo mumbled, realizing the implication if they were talking about Gods, Goddesses, and monsters. “Who is my father?”

 “Well, look, above your head for starters.” Oyster said, and Cleo looked up to see a bouncing glowing symbol. It looked like a hammer. Grabbing for it, it moved; Cleo moved her head, it followed; run in a circle, it chased her.  
Then, Cleo looked to Luke and Bianca, they similarly both had symbols appear above their heads but...Bianca's was _odd_. Luke's looked like a symbol from Sailor Moon, Cleo thought; but Bianca's was just sort of a pale glow. It was just a spot of pale light shining down onto dark curls, like a moon beam.  
 The other two were appraising theirs appreciatively, though Oyster and Sierra were very blatantly staring at Bianca like she was made of pixie dust and ghost ectoplasm.

 “I've never...” Sierra trailed off, looking awestruck. Oyster nodded, similarly not seeming to be able to say much of anything. He shook his head, like the image would right itself when he opened his eyes again.

 “So, should we head to camp or just stand here all night? I'd like medical attention if it's alright with you.” Luke drawled, hands on his hips, and his face was still dripping blood. Apparently the appeal of the magical sailor moon scribble above his head had worn off.

 “Oh, of course-” A flashlight shining on them cut off whatever Oyster was going to say.

 “It's a horse guy now, great.” Cleo said flatly, somewhat angry this was her life. She liked sci-fi, not fantasy stuff. This was Middle Earth, Cleo wanted Star Trek.

 “Centaur,” Bianca corrected, looking very excited suddenly. “Like the ones in Harry Potter.” Cleo tolerated Harry Potter, but this was taking it to an extreme.

 “Chiron,” Sierra and Oyster said in tandem. Cleo wondered if he was the boss of this organization, this isle of misfit toys.

 The horse guy looked between the three of them, and could have looked threatening if he wanted to, but instead looked like he was having a difficult time coming to words. He nearly looked choked up, like the sight of them was sad, or maybe nostalgic.   
Maybe he was just feint at the sight of blood.

 “My, my...you three, of course.” Chiron muttered to himself, before looking like something else occurred to him. “Ah, Luke, you should see our healers otherwise that might...scar.” Chiron trailed off as he was speaking, though Luke didn't seem to think anything of it.   
And, actually, how did he know Luke's name at all? Well, Oyster probably called ahead or something like that.

 “They were claimed,” Sierra announced. “You know the one we didn't know about for sure?”

 Chiron nodded slowly, “yes.”

 “Artemis.”

 Chiron looked taken back before he opened and closed his mouth multiple times. “Artemis? But...but she's never...How is this possible?”

 “How is any of this possible,” Cleo rolled her eyes. “I was on fire about 2 minutes ago. My auntie isn't my auntie. There's a goat over there, you're a horse. The worlds a crazy place. Can we get Luke somewhere before he passes out from blood loss.”

 Chiron frowned. “I see, fire you say? Again? I suppose that makes sense.”

 “Again? What's that supposed to mean?”

 Luke held up his hand, “remember the whole getting me to a doctor of some kind thing? I was thrown like 40 feet? No? Can we do the interrogation later?”

 “Okay kiddos, let's go, we can walk and talk.” Sierra pushed them forward. “Cleo there was uh, another camper here, years ago. He also could start fires. They were in the same cabin too.”

 “Cabins?” Bianca asked eagerly. “Is that like Hogwarts houses?”

 Cleo side eyed Bianca, “you need to chill, girl. Didn't that series come out like 50 years ago?”

 Bianca rolled her eyes and shrugged. “No, and regardless. Still a good series.”

 Oyster steered Bianca away from Cleo, and cleared his throat. “No, it's not like the Hogwarts Houses. Your cabin reflects your parentage or, in some cases, which God you're under the protection of. For the most part, everyone in your cabin is another child of your Godly parent.”

 “So, you're saying this other fire guy was my half-brother? Why is it strange we'd have the same powers?” Cleo asked, taking extra large steps because she was acutely aware she had burned through a great deal of leather and didn’t want to be walking on dirt and pine needles.

 “Because,” Chiron said with a rather stormy look on his face. “He was the first person to do so in around 200 years. It's generally said fire users appear in a...time of _trial_ , I suppose is the best way to put it; but your circumstance may be very different. You are special cases, after all.”

 “That's stupid,” Luke snorted, looking highly opinionated for a kid with a possible concussion. “Every time is a time of trial. People around the world are always starving, dying of war and disease. Who gets to decide what a time of trial is? Why are those peoples struggles less important?”

 “Fair point,” Chiron smiled. “As I said, though, your circumstances may be different.”

 “What's my house anyway?” Cleo asked, curious.

 “ _Cabin_. You’re the child of Hephaestus. Luke is in Hermes cabin, and...Bianca, you're in Artemis' cabin.” Chiron said slowly.

 “Is that strange?” Bianca asked, looking a bit nervous. “I'm getting the feeling you think that's strange.”

 “Artemis is a virgin goddess.” Sierra said slowly. “She's never had any children before. Ever. You'd...be the first, Bianca. There are huntresses of Artemis, girls of other parentage who choose to align themselves with the Goddess. But, no children.”

 Bianca looked a bit taken back, stopping in step. “I...don't feel very special? I nearly choked to death on a cheerio a week ago…”

 “You are special, all three of you.” Chiron said. “That much, you'll discover for yourselves later...But first, Will!” Chiron called out to a man walking out of a larger cabin.

 “Yeah?” The man called back, walking leisurely closer.

 “Lucas Colombera, Hermes cabin, needs a bit of medical attention please.” Chiron said, and Luke walked forward and gave a little wave.

 The Will guy paused and stared at Luke for a moment, a lollipop falling from his mouth. He looked both intrigued and horrified at the same time.

 “ _Wow_ , you're the spitting image of-” Will's eyes moved over to Bianca and Cleo. “ _Holy shit_. I mean, uh, righteous crap. Um.”

 “William!” Chiron said sternly, and Will jumped, despite being a full grown adult man.

 “Right, uh, Lucas, follow me?” Will said, more like he was asking the question to himself than Luke.

 “Just call me Luke.”

  Will laughed nervously. “Well, that'll definitely be easy to remember.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updating more soon, but i'm a lazy sob. 
> 
> next chapter preview: will yanks out a wicked 2002 circa flip phone to lay some truth down.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will has an old phone, the kids have bad theories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to get this out before Just Golden updates to. vary my uploads.
> 
> Gender mentions abound, because I mean you couldn't have gotten here without expecting that, right.

  
  


“We can just go with the kids for now, right?” Sierra said, looking between the new campers and Chiron. “It might be better if this whole process is a bit...slower. They should stick together, shouldn’t they?”  
Cleo heaved out a sigh of relief, Sierra might be hiding things, but she was a familiar unknown at least. Being led into the wolves den not knowing anyone or anything wasn’t high on the list of good ideas.

 Chiron seemed to agree, and so all of them followed Luke and the newcomer Will into the larger cabin.  
It was a warm place, full of seemingly junky objects, but all of them seemed to feel like they had a place that they belonged to. Bianca whispered something about being reminded of a Ghibli movie, to which Cleo shrugged at as they were moved along.

Will sat Luke down at a table in the kitchen type area, though Cleo saw no oven or anything besides a sink. The older man grabbed a cloth to wet down and slowly wiped off the blood of Luke’s face, revealing Luke underneath the blood was even paler than they had realized, apparently having taken quite a beating.

 Will then started singing. It was weird. He wasn't very good. And yet, before their very eyes, Luke's wound began to close itself up, and his color returned to his cheeks. Regardless, Bianca and Cleo exchanged an amused and befuddled look to one another. Bianca mouthed, ‘ _Rapunzel_ ’ and Cleo snickered, before they were met with stern looks from the adults.

 

“That should do it for now, rest and food will probably do the rest.” Will said, handing Luke a candy he had in the pocket of his sweat pants. Luke declined, seeing the lint.

 “Okay, so.” Will clapped his hands together, having slung the washcloth over his shoulder, and suddenly looked like a chastising suburban mother. “Anyone want to tell me why Luke, Bianca, and Leo are here?” Will said, turning to look accusingly at Chiron, Sierra and Oyster.

 “Cleo,” Cleo corrected. “Not...” She paused. Was that wrong?

 “Uh, sorry.” Will was looking at her uncertainly now, awkwardly. Cleo looked down at the floorboards.

 “…Have you told Nico?” The healer turned back to very specifically Chiron. “Because there will be quite literally _hell_ to pay if you haven't. Pun very much intended.” Will glanced at Bianca quickly. Something seemed to be weird about Bianca, judging by how all the adults were acting around her. Well, she seemed normal, but no one else seemed to think so.

 Chiron held up a hand, looking exhausted. “Mr. Solace, your tone. We didn't know for certain. Nico was as aware as we were that she'd left, back then. This was always a possibility, maybe not exactly _this_ exact situation, but in some form or another.” Will looked unconvinced.

 “What about Piper, Jason? Frank and Hazel? Have you told them? These aren’t infants, you had to have known for years, Chiron.”

 “Well, that… was a bit more difficult.” Chiron shifted, with a sad clack of hooves on the floorboards,

 Will glared, looking actually angry. “ _Difficult_? Or you just didn’t want to try? You know they'd accept Leo no matter what, any chance to see him again after that.”

Will noticed Cleo looking at him questioningly.

“Not you, Cleo.” Will sighed. “Another camper. Leo Valdez.”

 “My name is Cleo Velez,” Cleo said blankly.

 Will looked very pointedly between her and Chiron. “Can I take off your hat, Cleo?”

 Cleo shrugged and pulled it off, they were inside now. The cold air always froze the tips faster than the rest of her head.

 “Ears.” Will dragged a hand down his face, “of course.”

 Cleo tugged on one, feeling defensive, maybe a bit embarrassed. “I look like an elf. Who cares?”  
  
“Or a Vulcan!” Bianca added, which had all the adults looking mildly sheepish for some reason.

 “No, what you look like is Leo.” Will grumbled. “This isn't going to go well.”

 “Hey, was...was he the other fire guy?” Cleo turned to Sierra, as realization dawned on her. Sierra nodded in confirmation after a second of looking nervous.

 “Oh my god, he was? He's not my dad right? He's my brother? Can I meet him? Can he teach me how to be a firebender?!”

 “He's dead.” Will said sharply. “He died. 10 years ago.”

 Cleo’s eyebrows stitched together. Why would they care, or keep mentioning him then? Why did it matter if they had the same powers, if they looked a bit similar? They were related, right, why was that weird? But then, something dawned on Cleo. Doing some quick math in their head, horror bloomed across Cleo’s face.

 “…You think _I'm him_ don't you?” Sierra said nothing, even Chiron looked away. “Oh my god! _Oh my god_. Then...wait, you said we're _all_ special.” Cleo turned to Bianca and Luke who looked like they were coming to the same conclusion.

 “You think we're dead people?” Bianca wrapped her arms around her center, looking disturbed.

 “I don't believe in reincarnation.” Luke frowned, then winced as it pulled his wound.

 Will pulled out a phone, what looked like something from the dark ages of technology, and button mashed through a few things before holding it up for all to see.  
  
"Are we not going to mention his phone because-" Cleo was ignored.

 “Okay, I’m ripping off this bandage: Bianca di Angelo.” There was a picture displaying a young girl and a young boy on the phone. Sure enough, the girl was the spitting image of this Bianca. The boy looked likely related. But something else was odd about it, it was obviously a picture taken of a physical photograph – and that photo looked really old.  
This Bianca said nothing, just looked away as though it pained her.

 Will flipped to another as Chiron tried to step in to stop him.

 “They deserve to know, Chiron. They'll hear it from everyone else, they might as well hear it now first. If they don't want to believe it, then they won't.”

 This time, it was a picture of a guy older than Luke, but unmistakably resembled him. There was something about him that put Cleo on edge. Like, a dark shadow around him.

 “Luke Castellan.” Will flipped to another picture, same boy but closer to Luke’s age this time. There were similarly two girls in that photo with them, but neither looked familiar to Cleo.  
  
Will went to hold up his phone again after rapid clicking, but Cleo held up a hand. “I don't need to see, I get the picture. I'm good.”

 Will rolled his eyes and held it up anyway, and Cleo huffed but inspected it regardless.  
  
Well, ‘Leo’ looked like Cleo alright. Cleo was younger, of course, but they could have been mistaken for twins. His hair was shorter, but not a lot. They were shaped slightly differently in the face, his face was just a hint more angular, but they both had round impish faces. Their eyes were the same, their nose, lips, ears, skin tone. They were both skinny toothpicks. They even wore similar clothes even, bulky and warm to hide their body, with the exception of Cleo wearing leggings.

 “I don't know how I feel about this.” Cleo mumbled. It was like looking at a picture of herself, somewhere inside it felt normal, but that brought up more questions. This ‘brother’ of Cleo’s had lived his own life, knew people, probably had friends and family of his own.

 “I have a question,” Bianca said softly after a minute. “I'm guessing they're in the houses as...their former selves, I guess you'd say. But, you said I was the first daughter of Artemis. What was that Bianca?”

 “She was a daughter of Hades.” Will said, with a half smile. “Her brother is still alive, Nico. Bianca had a half sister too, but Bianca didn’t know her before she died. Hazel, in California.”

 “However, unlike the other cabins… Hades will likely not have any future children, none since Nico.” Chiron said. “He seems to have rekindled his affection towards his wife. Hephaestus, Hermes however…You’ll have no end supply of half siblings as the Gods continue existing.”

 “But,” Sierra cut in. “Bianca di Angelo was a Hunter of Artemis and died one. That’s what we’re guessing currently. Regardless of your parentage, Artemis may be continuing to claim you.”

 “So, reincarnation is just a thing now?” Luke raised an eyebrow. “I don't like the idea of being judged for something someone else did. People are shaped by experiences.”

 “When a demigod dies a Hero, they can chose to be reborn into the mortal world, and will die again...if they die a Hero 3 times over, they're allowed into Olympus. We know Bianca and Luke chose to be reborn.” He turned to Cleo, frowning. “We never knew what happened to Leo specifically, the circumstances around his death were…complicated. But, then you were born Cleo.”

 Cleo sniffed, nodded, and turned to Luke. “You don't like being judged on former actions, imagine what I feel like right now.”

 “I hate to say it, kids, but...you're definitely going to be judged.” Will said, and all three kids began talking in tandem. “Let me finish! You have very...unique histories, lives you lived previously. It's going to shape the way people see you, interact with you. Those people still have friends and family alive, and it might be hard for them to separate the two of you.” Will explained. “That’s going to be hard. But, you have to keep in mind, everyone here has a reputation the second they arrive.  We’re demigods, we reflect our parentage. You’ll still be able to make your own path, to be yourself.”

 “Ah, well. Tough break for you two.” Cleo grinned at Luke and Bianca. “Less difficult for me, I'd imagine. I’ll just cover my ears, don't make fire, and call myself …like Jo or something. Who would notice?”

 Chiron looked uneasy, “I'd wager Festus would.”

 “That's an amazing name.”

 “It's your magical mechanical dragon.”

 Cleo's eyes got very wide, because for a 9 year old, going on ten year old...nothing shook of a train of thought like the words ‘dragon’.  
Maybe living here wouldn’t be so bad?  
  
  
  


The adults had stepped out for a moment, leaving the three alone. None were speaking, it was awkward enough. Bianca was shuffling her feet, and twisting locks of hair, looking around the room. Luke was staring at the ground, and you could nearly see the cogs turning inside his head, plotting something. Cleo was being torn between wanting to look around more, and wanting to return back to the car. Back to the life she'd left. The life where they weren't all just...other people.  
Back to a life where Cleo didn’t have to feel uncomfortable being Cleo.

“Do you think it's true?” Bianca asked finally. “Do you think we're...someone else?”

 Luke shook his head, scoffing. “I stopped asking questions a long time ago. Around the time I started seeing monsters, and around the time I realized the dad I visited on the weekends was actually a God.”  
  
“You know your dad?” Cleo asked, mildy envious, and Luke nodded.  
  
“He'd always come by, or sometimes he'd send letters. I know he had other kids, I kind of got the impression that maybe he wasn't always the best father. But, that he was trying for my sake, which I appreciated. I knew he was a bit… eccentric, but I thought he was just a historian or...just like Greek mythology as a hobby. I guess, looking back on it, maybe it was weird for a father to purposely teach his child how to steal things and not get caught.”

 Cleo and Bianca didn't say anything, but felt they seemed to already know that much at least.

 “How long have you two known each other?” Cleo was a bit miffed she hadn't been brought into the loop earlier. “And, how long have you known about...this stuff? Greek nonsense.”

 “A couple hours. Oyster picked us up, we drove in one car. He explained...some stuff. Not enough, apparently.” Luke said, flipping a coin between his fingers.

 “I had another guardian, but I've lived alone most of my life. I don't know who my parents are, well, I don't know who one of them is, anyway.” Bianca sighed. “I knew it wasn't normal, living by myself, having tutors send over...food, whatever. But it wasn’t really…bad? A big expensive old loft in New York. Private education, anything I wanted to watch on tv, computers, games.”

 “Jealous,” Cleo huffed. “I had to go to public school, why'd you both get the special treatment?”

 “Same here actually, public school. Just a normal apartment in Boston with my mom. I think Bianca is just, well, they said it didn't they? You’re more...unique.” Luke said, and Bianca looked like she wanted to argue it but didn’t know how.

 “I’m just saying, I don't know who my parents were, and I had to go to public school and live with Sierra. This is seriously not fair. Do you know how much of our apartment smelled like patchouli?”

 “How old are you, Cleo?” Bianca asked curiously.

 “Almost 10.” 9, in other words.

 “I'm 11,” Bianca said, while Luke responded, “nearly 13.” 12, in other words.

 “Seems a weird age to get us all involved all of a sudden, doesn't it?” Luke pondered. “There doesn't seem to be any reason I can think of.”

 “Well, in Harry Potter kids were sorted at age 11. Maybe it's like that.” Bianca suggested.

 “Or maybe it's puberty.” Cleo shrugged. Bianca and Luke made a face.

 “Gross. Let's avoid any mentioning of like...excessive body hair.”

 “Or menstruation.” Bianca said and Luke wrinkled his nose. Bianca and Cleo both rolled their eyes.

 “Speaking of which,” Luke glanced at Cleo, humor in his eyes. “Didn't they say you were a boy?”

 “I guess so,” Cleo grumbled. “But who cares. I'm me regardless.”

 “I don't think I'd like…going to school, and suddenly everyone seeing me as a boy,” Bianca said frowning. “No offense.”

 “None taken,” Luke and Cleo said at the same time.

 “Look…It's just... not a big deal to me,” Cleo shrugged after a minute, maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t. It was hard for Cleo to pin down.

 “You don't feel like you're a boy? Or do you feel like a girl? I wonder if he did.”

 Cleo scowled, “I don't feel like anything. I said already, it's not that big of a deal.”

 “Really? If you meet people who knew him, there's going to be a lot of people who think you're him, they might call you Leo, or start calling you he and him.” Bianca wrinkled her nose. “That'd upset me a lot. I’m a girl, and I love being a girl.”

 Cleo fumed, throwing hands up in the air. “As long as I know they're referring to me, what do I care?” Humans were overly complicated things to Cleo. “I don't like the idea of being judged on who he was, but I could care less that he was a _he_. If we’re the same person, he should feel the same.” Bianca shrugged a shoulder, looking not entirely convinced, she couldn’t understand how Cleo felt. There had been a girl in Cleo's class that was transgender, and for the most part all the students were fine about it. Cleo never really fit in with anyone, always felt a bit awkward. When they explained to the students what being transgender was, Cleo never told Sierra, but it made Cleo feel as though something was wrong with her.  
Cleo didn't feel like anything. Cleo was just Cleo, and now, maybe Leo.  
  
“I mean, my ideal life would be having my AI put into a robot body, how cool would that be? Maybe that dragon they mentioned…”

 “Actually, that makes me think of something.” Luke said, with dawning realization on his face. “What if our ages correspond somehow to the age in which we died?”

 “It seems like all of us were older than us now though...” Bianca said. “It's still possible though.”  
  
“No, I think it has something to do with the _timing,_ or circumstances in which we died.” Luke suggested. “They didn't mention anything about the manner in which we died, but I'm getting the impression we were all fairly young. It was probably sudden, or accidental, or health related or something like that.”  
  
“So, maybe, people they think shouldn't have died when they did? And, now that we might be recognizable as our former lives, that’s why we’re here now?” Bianca asked.

 “Or maybe...Stay with me here. Greeks were weird right? Maybe they want to take us all as child brides?” Cleo wondered. Bianca and Luke looked horrified.

 “I’m joking, chill. But still, I don’t trust people who lie to you your entire lives, and then trap a bunch of kids in a camp together. So. I'm outtie.” Cleo said, looking around the house and spotting a window. “I don't trust this place. I don't trust the people. The only person I thought I could trust was my aunt, and she's been lying to me.”  
  
Bianca and Luke exchanged a look.

 “I understand that, but…I'm kind of curious, aren't you? I don't really think they're...that horrible. They haven't seemed to be up until now. I don't know if I'm ready to leave.”

 “Me too,” Luke agreed. “If all else fails, I'll just run again later. I've stolen plenty of stuff, never been caught. I'd like to see them try. Turns out I was apparently trained by a God.”

 “Not me,” Cleo sighed, walking over to the window and pushing it up. “I'm not in very good shape. I’m tiny. I always sit down in PE. Good luck in the not getting murdered department.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I also want to emphasize that Bianca would be hugely supportive of any girls, not just cis girls. Also the genders in this basically work out to bianca = cis girl, leo = nb, luke = mischief.)


	4. Chapter 4

 

Cleo slung skinny legs out of the window and jumped down. It was a bit further of a drop than she was expecting, having judged the top of a shrub as the ground, and instead found herself on the dirt with considerably more twigs and muck now tangled in their hair.

 Cleo huffed, and looked around the space she was in. It was dark. There were woods everywhere. Still looked like a horror movie. Knowing nothing about outdoor survival, and admittedly didn't have the best night vision didn’t give Cleo the best odds. Still, Cleo said screw it and decided on walking straight in a line leading as far from the cabin as possible.

Oversized boots stumbled a few times here and there, tripping over roots and vines, occasionally Cleo thought she heard a voice calling for her. Or rather, calling for _him_ maybe.  
  
There were mumbles, seemingly coming from all directions. Cleo walked faster, until hearing a noise, a small crack of a twig being snapped. It came from the direction she was walking towards.  
  
Whatever it was, it was most likely to be something small like a rabbit or a fox. They didn't have many animals in New York besides pigeons and seagulls really…or so Cleo had been led to believe by movies. Upstate might have had a blackbear or two, but they were really just giant raccoons, easy enough to scare back up a tree. Otherwise the only thing to worry about was frequent alien invasions. Again, all Cleo had to go on was movies.

   
Which is why when Cleo stepped out into a small clearing next to a creek and saw a bear, Cleo froze. It was no black bear. It was a massive hulking figure, a grizzly bear. It huffed at the air, looking around, as giant clouds of breathy steam came from its open mouth. It slowly turned a heavy head towards the terrified 9 year old a few feet away.   
Cleo screamed and fell backwards onto her backpack, legs kicking out in front of her. Trying to turn around to run back to the house, regardless of being pretty sure you _weren't_ supposed to run from predators, but a buckle loop on her shorts got caught on a branch and Cleo was snagged and stuck.

   
A hand landed on her shoulder, which just caused more screaming.

   
“Hey, hey, calm down, it's okay. You're safe. Are you lost?”

 Cleo turned slowly, to come face to face with a man rather than a grizzly bear. Though, admittedly he was grizzly sized; while still crouched down, nearly sitting, he was still almost taller than she was. And wider, by like. At least 3 Cleos. Maybe more.

 “Wh-whu...Where? Bear? _Where bear_?” Cleo blinked, looking around, leaning forward and pulling the bush with her, to look around the man. “I don't....Was I hallucinating?”

 “Uh, no, that was me, sorry.” The man smiled kindly. Cleo blanched.

 “ _Werebear_!? Oh man.......I really need to go.” Cleo shook her head and reached down to pull herself free.

 “Are you a new camper?” He asked, still smiling, but now he seemed a bit amused instead of just pleasant. “I'm from Camp Rome.”

 Cleo stared blankly, and the guy paused. “They haven't told you much yet have they? You must be really new...”

 “I've been here for like, an hour.” Cleo said flatly. “ _And_ I intend to leave.”

 “Leave? Why?” He frowned, standing up fully. He was twice her height. Needless to say, it was a bit intimidating.

 “Oh, great, I was actually hoping someone would ask. I’ve been making a list.” Cleo held up a hand and began raising fingers while ticking off points. “My aunt isn’t my aunt. Or human. That’s the bigger issue right there. She lied to me, and has been for years. There’s a goat man. There’s a horse man. There’s monsters and glow guns. Reincarnation might be real? That’s kind of a game changer. Everyone here seems convinced I’m a dead guy.” The man in front of Cleo opened his mouth but had no time to say anything.   
  
“Plus, I'm still not entirely sure if this isn't some child sacrifice and/or marriage cult! Greeks were weird! You still haven't told me how you're a bear!” Cleo ranted, tongue barely able to catch up to the speed in which she was speaking, and the man similarly looked a bit wide eyed as they pointed accusingly at him.

 “Uh, well, okay. There was a lot to unpack there. Let, me…go down the list as best I can…” He crossed his arms, taking a big breath.   
“A lot of kids here have been lied to or told partial to half truths most of their lives. It isn’t a great system, but the alternative endangers them prematurely, or simply wouldn’t be believed. Or, worse, they _would_ be believed. If the rest of the world began to realize demigods were real, that all these odd ancient cultures were…right about some things, it could cause serious issues. On a global scale. I’m sorry you feel betrayed by someone close to you, though.” He looked at Cleo to see if they’d argue anything. Cleo didn’t, but was radiating annoyance.   
“So, okay, part of that is also…admittedly most the ancient world was pretty messed up. People did a lot of wrong. You don’t want the current world suddenly thinking, oh hey…demigods are real, that must mean everything the Greeks or Romans did was okay! Because, that was just their culture, and it was…bad. But, culture changes. We're none of those things, here or New Rome. These places were created to _protect_ children. It's the only reason many of us made it to adulthood. There’s no child brides, no sacrificial cults.” The guy paused.  
“I'm definitely a bear though. I mean, I can shape shift. I'm not literally a bear, but I can be. I'm Roman though, not Greek.”

 Cleo stared. “You look Asian.”

 “I'm half Chinese, half God. I guess all my physical DNA comes from my human mother though, so ethnically… I'm just Chinese? It’s kind of complicated. Frank Zhang, son of Mars...Ares in Greek, nice to meet you...?”

 “...Cleo Velez.” They muttered. “I still don't believe you. I don't...believe anyone.”

 “Cleo, look, I didn't meet my dad until I was much older than you. My mom died in Afghanistan, I got pulled into these…very strange adventures. Not all of them so pleasant. But, we’ll never purposely try to hurt you- wait, did you say in there that people think you’re a man?” Frank stopped, eyebrows coming together.

 “It's not just that...” Cleo side stepped, crossing her arms and looking at the water. “They told us we're...Luke and Bianca...they told us we're not... _us_.”

 “Wait, Luke and Bianca?” Frank asked, looking puzzled.

 “Other kids, they arrived at the same time I did.” Cleo explained, sighing deeply.

 “No, it's just...sorry, I know of other people by that name.” Frank shook his head, “go on.”

 “That's just it! I think the horse guy, my aunt, _Oyster_ , and that Will doctor guy… think we're all actually _them_! That we’re…reborn or something! And… they might be right.” Cleo could feel her bottom lip beginning to quiver. “Who am I even? I don’t…sometimes, I don’t feel like the other kids. Sometimes, I feel like…my name isn’t even right.”

 Frank didn't say anything for a minute, before crouching down again and putting a hand on each of her shoulders. They dwarfed her by comparison.

 “Well, you're you, right? People...can be reborn, but you've lived different lives...you've had different experiences. Think of it as...you can take the same clay, and make different things from it, right? The same LEGO pieces make a million combinations. It might be the same basic material, you might be able to point to different things and say look this is the same. But, that doesn't mean you're the same. That also doesn’t mean you have to…be _Cleo_. It’s just a name. My birthname is different, you know, but I go by Frank. Frank feels right for me. You do whatever feels right by you. You don’t have to be what the human world saw you as, and you don’t have to be what the demigods expect you to be. Just, be you.”

 Cleo looked up and met his eyes. “Can I be a robot?”

 “Uh, well, I’m not….” Frank’s smile faltered. “You can definitely work on robots? Look, I don't know about this Luke and Bianca...but, I bet you're a wonderfully unique person Cleo.”

 Cleo mulled it over, before sighing, and nodding. “Yeah. I guess I am pretty amazing...I suppose you want me to go back to the cabin now?”

 Frank laughed, “I mean, it is dark out. Aren’t you getting tired? I'll walk you back, if you want.”

 Cleo paused, eyes gleaming as the child turned her focus on Frank. “Can I ride back? Can you turn back into a bear? Can I ride on your back like a cowboy? Wait, can you turn into anything else?”

 Frank faltered for a second, “uh, most animals actually.”

 “What about a dragon?” Cleo asked excitedly, jumping from foot to foot. “Can you turn into a dragon?”

 Frank paused, before nodding slowly. “Yes, I mean, that’s not really an actual animal…but, yeah, I have...”

 “Man, if I could turn into a dragon...why would you be anything else?!” Cleo grabbed for his hand to tug. “Come on buddy, pal, my guy!”

 “It's like any other sort of exercise, it takes energy, and becoming a dragon takes a lot of it. You can't just _jump_ into something like that so ...easily...I feel like I’ve got the weirdest sense of deja vu right now, like I’ve had basically this conversation before...” Frank shock his head, and Cleo froze. She let go of his hand and backed away.

 “Cleo?”

 “No, you're like them. You'll only see me as him too.”

 Frank looked seriously confused, taking a step forward only for her to take two steps backwards.

 “Cleo, what are you talking about?” Frank notice she was uncomfortable and stopped moving towards her, holding up his hands in a universal, ‘I’m not going to hurt you’ pose. “Are you okay?”

 “Who asked you?”

 “What?”

 “Who asked you if you could turn into a dragon? If you've had this conversation before, then _who asked you?!”_

 Franks brows furrowed in thought, he shook his head after mouthing a few names. Then, it looked like he remembered.

 “ _Leo_.” Cleo said, before he could speak.

 “I...yes, Leo Valdez asked in the first few days we met...it was years ago. He's...he passed away a long time ago.”

 “Like, around ten years ago about?” Cleo stared pointedly, and Frank paused.

 “Wait, are you saying you're Leo?” Frank asked incredulously, amused. “There's no way.”

 “How am I different?”

 Frank said nothing but seemed to appraise the Cleo closer.

 “How else besides you _thinking_ I’m a girl?” Cleo pressed. “How am I different? Or do you admit you lied, that you don’t really think I can ‘just be me’? You and the rest of organic lifeforms-”

 Frank froze, and Cleo realized she must have said something.

 “I can make fire you know.” Cleo said softly. Frank shook his head in disbelief, looking away, but inevitably looking back.” Cleo took off her hat and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Will said something about my ears.”

 Frank took a deep shaky breath. “I...That's not-”

 “What? Uncommon? I look like a Keebler elf!” She yelled, feeling a familiar heat rise. An eartip caught fire. “So much for a _unique_ person, huh?” Cleo huffed, and kicked a rock. “I'm leaving.”

 “Wait!” Frank made to grab for her hand but stopped short of actually doing so. “Even…Even if you are reincarnated…it still doesn't change anything. Leo's life and death was shaped by the choices he made and the circumstances we lived in. You've not experienced that. You're a different person.”

 “…I'm only 9, man, that's a lot of pressure.”

 Frank sighed and got down on one knee. “Look, the reason we might see you and think ‘Leo’...is because Leo died saving the camp. All of us, essentially. He...deserved more in life, I think, even though we didn't always get along. In reality...we only knew each other for around a year. I'm sure there's a lot people who don't know and will never know about him. Cleo, you get the chance to live out your life, with family. From your cabin, to your guardian, and to those of us who remember Leo.” Frank stood up “Plus, if you're worried about other campers seeing you and thinking Leo, don't. Most the campers here were not around when Leo was. He hadn’t been here long either. They might know his name, but that's all. To them, you'll just be you.”

 “....Really?” Cleo mumbled, and Frank nodded.

 “We'll be here for you, no matter what, okay?”

“What if I want to call myself Leo?” She asked, feeling nervous, like it was something she’d wanted to ask for a long time.   
  
“Well, I’d say it’s a good name. Do you want me to call you Leo?”  
  
Cleo paused, and shrugged a shoulder. “Maybe not yet.”  
  
“That’s okay too.”  
Cleo quickly grabbed the man around the middle for a hug… or tried to anyway. Her arms didn't go all the way around, but she tried. It was a familiar feeling.

Frank paused before patting her on the back.

 “Let's go back, okay? It's getting late, you should meet your cabin mates and get some sleep.”

 “Sleep is for the weak,” Cleo mumbled against his stomach.

 “Sleep is for 9 year olds who just ran through a forest at night and then had a bit of an emotional break down.”

 “Boo, you suck.” Came the grumble from his midsection, but eventually Cleo pulled back anyway. “Fine. Where will you be when we get back, I mean after?”

 “Talking to my friends and colleagues, probably.”

 “About me?”

 “I'm sure you'll come up.”

 “Can you tell them I was totally cool, super badass, and defeated you as a bear?”

 “…I'm in charge of the New Roman Military, Cleo.”

 “That makes me sound even cooler then,” Cleo grinned. “Gotta make a good impression.”

 “Right, well in that case, I'll definitely tell them then.” Frank chuckled, patting her on the back.

  
When they walked back into the cabin, it was clear that Sierra was in a panic before Cleo could even see her. Entering the room, she was talking quickly to a bunch of new young adults in the room, with Luke and Bianca in the middle of it all looking a bit confused. A dark haired guy had his hand clenched on Bianca's shoulder, and seemed to be yelling specifically at horse man for some reason. Will looked like he was trying to calm him down, but it wasn't working.   
Cleo hid behind Frank, and did so with ease, given his size, as they walked in the door.  
  
“Hey guys.” Frank greeted them. Cleo peaked between his side and arm. A very pretty black lady stood up, her hair was like antiqued gold, and her eyes were like golden amber.   
  
“Frank, there's kind of been… something happened. We all need to talk.”  
  
“You don't say,” a green eyed guy remarked, looking between Chiron and Luke. A blonde lady was silent but was solely focused on Luke.   
  
“We don't need to talk, we need to go find Leo.” A girl with braids and feathers weaved throughout her hair said, seemingly glaring at everyone else in the room.   
  
“No need to explain, I kind of already got the run down.” Frank said, glancing down at the child hiding behind him. “How are we going to do this?”  
  
Cleo grumbled, before stepping out from around his bulk. “Hi. I guess I’m back now.”  
  
“Cleo!” Sierra gasped, running over to check her over. “Where did you go? _Why_ did you go? You scared the living daylights out of me!”  
  
“I'm not sorry, you lied to me.” Cleo said simply, rolling her eyes, before tugging on Frank's hand to pull him forward. “Introduce me, I’m still mad at my auntie.”  
  
Multiple people began crying and rushed over to her. The woman with the braids grabbed Cleo’s face in her hands and smooched her forehead. A blond man grabbed them both into a hug. The woman from before, with the golden eyes, came over to Frank and seemed to be silently communicating with him, before also crouching down to envelope Cleo in her arms.   
  
“ _Leo_.” Someone said, and Cleo shook her head.  
  
“My name is Cleo. For now, anyway. But… Leo is in Cleo?” They paused.   
  
“I mean... that sums it up about as well as possible?” Frank said with a shrug. “This is Hazel, my girlfriend. Piper,” Frank pointed to the feather girl, “and Jason. They were Leo's best friends.”  
  
“Sup.” Cleo nodded.   
  
“Cleo...” Piper said slowly. “Okay…okay then. Cleo.”  
  
“It's nice to meet you.” Jason smiled, still looking a bit sad. Regret was on his face, and it made Cleo feel uncomfortable. She wasn’t exactly who he wanted to see.  
  
Hazel was less subtle and grabbed Cleo up off the floor in a big hug. “You're just the cutest thing. Cute as a button!”  
  
Cleo hung like a rag doll for many seconds before awkwardly patting her on the back. “This is kinda weird.”  
  
“No, please, I can’t imagine.” Luke drawled, before realizing he was still getting stared down by the other two adults. He frowned, and crossed his arms, pointedly looking away.  
  
Bianca just mouthed help at Cleo, but Cleo could not.  
  
  
\-----  
  
  


Bianca was eager to go out on a mission, and Luke felt much the same but for different reasons. They'd been at Camp Half Blood for over a year now and yet nothing. The reasoning was obvious enough, the adults had all taken on some form of parental slash sibling type role in the children's lives. Annabeth, Percy and Grover, and occasionally Thalia when she stopped by, had a watchful eye out for Luke. Cleo had Piper and Jason, Frank and Hazel.

Bianca had Nico, Will, Percy, Chiron, all of the Hunters, and Hazel. Not to mention Hades, Persephone and Artemis keeping a careful eye on the child they created.  


They all had a pretty good reason for not wanting to allow Bianca off on a quest.

 “I'm tired of them hounding us like this,” Bianca sighed, sitting on Fetus' back. Cleo had her head up inside the dragons mouth and pulled out to speak.

 “I know, but what are we supposed to do about it?” Cleo shrugged, re-tightening her belt. It didn't fit right just yet.

 “We go on a mission.” Bianca announced firmly. “If we do that, and come back, they'll trust us more.”

 “Or they'll lock us up and never let us out of their sights,” Luke suggested, chewing on a piece of jerky on the grass. “And, speak for yourself, B. I don't think anyone will _ever_ trust me. I guess that happens when you try to take over the world.”

 “You didn't though! Even your former self made amends, it's unfair for them to just judge us based off of the choices our former selves made.” Bianca huffed.

 “The choices our former selves made got them killed.” Cleo pointed out. “I'm not super eager to die again.”  
They all had fragments of memories, and unfortunately some of the strongest made in their previous lives were as they died. Wasn’t pleasant.  


“Ditto,” Luke agreed. “But I also agree with Bianca. I think we can handle ourselves fine, and I think a basic quest shouldn't be any problem. The problem is _them_.”  
Luke was likely talking in particular about Annabeth and Percy, and occasionally the huntress Thalia. Their relationship was the most strained.  
  
Cleo shrugged a shoulder, it was probably true, and she'd love get the chance to take Festus out for a spin, but at the same time was _kiiind_ of terrified of pissing off Frank and Piper. Gods forbid an angry Hazel.  
  
“I say we just go,” Bianca said. “I overheard Chiron talking. There's a missing relic at one of the temples of Apollo. Apollo is miffed about it, but didn’t want to risk any campers for it. It shouldn't be anything major. We go, get it back, come home.”  
  
“Do we know who took it?” Luke asked curiously.  
  
“Well,” Bianca looked down at the ground. “Not exactly. But it had to be a spirit or demigod?”  
  
“Or another minor God.” Luke reminded her. “Getting in between a Godly feud could be a bigger problem than we think.”  
  
“We're going anyway aren't we?” Cleo sighed. Jason would give her that… 'I'm disappointed in you' look.  
  
“Oh, yeah. Obviously.” Luke nodded. “Festus can fly right?”  
  
Cleo looked offended.   
  
“He is my son, my child, my boy. Of course, he can fly!” Festus grumbled appreciatively.   
  
“Good, then we get supplies and leave tonight. Just a rucksack, some food, warm clothes.” Bianca said, tacking off a list one by one.   
  
-  
  
Cleo ran into Piper and Sierra as she was walking out of the health clinic, grabbing some cubes of ambrosia from under Will's nose.  
The dryad noticed her niece first, turning to greet her.   
  
“Cleo, how's things going?” Sierra smiled pleasantly enough, their relationship was a bit strained still, with the whole them not actually being related and one being actually more tree than human. But in the last year or two things had improved.  
  
“Fine, Bianca, Luke and I were going to go spar until dinner.” Cleo shrugged. Piper raised an eyebrow.  
  
“Sparring? Really? I've never known you to be one for sparring.” Cleo wasn't sure if Piper meant her or Leo, but it probably held true for the both of them.  
  
“Well, more like they were going to spar, and I was going to fiddle with Festus' controls until I can get him to sound like Darth Vader.” Cleo seemed to admit with a sheepish grin.  
  
“Right, that sounds more like you.” Piper laughed and reached in to hug her. “Take care, okay? We'll see you tonight at dinner. We want to talk to you about something, Jason and I.”  
  
Cleo blinked, and turned to Sierra who smiled knowingly. “Uh, okay. Sure....See you...then.”  
  
She wouldn't be seeing Piper and Jason tonight, and felt a bit guilty about it. But Bianca was right, they were sort of smothering them. Percy, Annabeth, Hazel and Nico were all younger or as young as they were when they started going off on missions and quests. And now, they were turning around and treating them like children incapable of doing anything well.   
  
Admittedly, it sounded like most of their plans and missions went horribly awry. Leading to...more than one death.   
Cleo shook her head. Bad thoughts, begone.  
  
That night, Cleo met up with Bianca, who told of narrowly avoiding her sort-of brother Nico. If he had managed to see her, with a bookbag and warm clothing prepared, he'd likely have put a nail in their plans early.   
Nico di Angelo was a force to be reckoned with, while they all respected people like Percy, Jason, and Frank. It was Nico that had all campers really stop and pay attention. He wasn't mean, far from it, but no one was eager to get on his bad side.   
  
Nico, and Annabeth that was. No one wanted to piss off either of those titans, no pun intended.  
  
Which was a little bit why Cleo was nervous, and why Luke should be if he wasn't already. When they got back from all of this, they'd likely be the ones blamed. Especially Luke, his former reputation wasn't a particularly good one; it was easy to sense how many of the adults in both camps, but especially here in Camp Half Blood carried a minor grudge against the blond boy. The sword would fall on his shoulders. They had to do this right.  
  
In the night, as all the other campers would be headed for dinner, the trio made their way to Festus. He was at the bunker, where they could take off, and hopefully not be noticed as missing for a while.   
  
Regardless, and partially out of fear of retribution, Cleo clapped a sign on the front of the bunker that read   
  
**ON QUEST. BRB – C.B.L**  
_(seriously though please don't track us down and kill us)_  
  
It would hopefully suffice for now.  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there'll be a few time skips in the story, as the kiddos get older.


	5. The Quest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Kids go on a Quest. Of a sort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to originally post one big massive whole quest arc, but I've decided to break it up because I'm cruel. However the entirety is written, so it'll all be up soon.  
> (The quest arc isn't going to be a formal in depth riordan-esque quest, obviously I'm not writing an entire book here. But, it's a taste anyway. The end of the quest will also not be the end of the story.)

 

  
“They did _what_?!” Sierra yelped, causing the other dryad the jerk back. “They ran away?”  
  
“I'm not sure, I just saw them leave on the horrible dragon.” The cherry tree dryad shuddered, and another fir tree agreed.  
  
“I think they left a message for you.”  
  
-  
  
  
“What?” Nico asked icily. Sierra handed him the note.  
  
“ _Cleo_ ,” he said with a glare, and handed it to Piper and Jason.   
  
“Definitely Cleo,” Jason sighed. “I can go get them.”  
  
“They've been gone for a few hours, and no one knows where exactly they were going.” Sierra explained. “The dryad don’t like to get involved with Festus, or Cleo.”  
  
“On Festus they could be...” Piper paused, thinking. “How far did we get on Festus? Before he was rebuilt? Well, either way, they're probably pretty far off by now.”  
  
“Why would they do this?” Annabeth asked, crossing her arms. “It's not like we brought up any missions to any campers recently. I can’t imagine they just decided out of nowhere to leave. Should we be asking around, seeing if there are any other rumors amongst the campers?”  
  
“It's probably because of Nico and you, Annabeth.” Percy said plainly after a moment of the group murmuring between themselves. Percy then looked up and realized the stares he was getting as well as the rapid fire gesturing Will was making behind Nico's back. (Things like ‘you’ and ‘Nico’ and ‘throat slitting’ motions.) Percy sighed, and flipped his pen absentmindedly between his fingers.  
  
“You baby Bianca, Nico. Admittedly, we're probably all to blame on some level, but you two... Look, we’re overprotective about Luke. Sierra, Pipe, Jason, and Frank, and Hazel if they were here. You guys baby Cleo. They probably just want to prove themselves, same as any demigod their age. Same as we did. Probably same as any middle schooler, demigod or not. None of them are stupid. I understand being worried, I’m worried, but if we push too hard, they’ll rebel harder.”  
  
Nico stared, eyes blacker than black and shadows seeming to increase around them. “Need I remind you what happened the last time Bianca-”  
  
“Bianca di Angelo died.” Percy cut in, not backing down, and crossing his arms. Nico had an inch on Percy’s height now, but Percy hadn’t gone to Tartarus and back to be intimidated by Nico di Angelo.  
“People die. Pushing them away won’t prevent that. Did you forget I was _there_? Do you really think I don’t care?” Nico looked like he was sucking on a lemon, but finally looked away.  
  
“Nico, I...hate to say it, but Percy is right.” Will admitted, before wincing at the look his boyfriend sent him. “If not now, Bianca was going to go on a quest eventually. I know you're worried, we all are, and you're probably more worried than any of us. We all sympathize. We’re not pretending to know what it was like to lose your sister. But, you can't keep _this_ Bianca safe forever. She's _going_ to get hurt sometimes, but you've been teaching her and training her. Believe in the skills you've instilled in her. Bianca di Angelo didn’t have all that, all of us; and, you’re a great teacher, and a big brother. Bianca is smart. Try trusting her.”  
  
Nico mildly deflated but still looked upset, but it was to be expected. Hades kids didn’t let go of things easily.  
  
“But where could she have gone? I'd...not be okay with it, but I'd feel a bit better if I knew which mission she might be on.” Nico looked tired, anger edging away.  
  
“Actually, I have an idea about that.” Jason admitted, looking guilty over at Nico. “I was talking to Chiron the other day about a relic of Apollo’s being stolen. I was in the works of helping Apollo build some new temple, and the issue came up. It's possible one of the kids overheard. Apollo just wanted information, not a Quest…but, if the kids did over hear I’m guessing it'd seem like a fairly straight forward mission. No prophecy, nothing as formal as that.”  
  
“That's good then, though, right?” Piper grabbed up her bag. “We know where they're going. They’ll probably go to where it was stolen from first.”  
  
“Where is it?” Annabeth asked. “And what type of relic are we talking about?”  
  
“Well, that’s the issue. I don’t know, didn’t have that much detail. Apollo seemed more depressed by it, than angry at it being stolen. He wasn’t particularly forthcoming with information.”  
  
“Shocking,” Percy rolled his eyes.  
  
“All I know was where the temple was to be built in San Francisco, and that the relic went missing somewhere in the Midwest.” Jason answered, and a wicked smile curled over Nico’s face.  
  
“Oh no,” Will sighed, dragging a hand down his face. “No. Nope. I refuse to allow this to happen.”  
  
“I'm getting Reyna, Hazel and Frank.” Nico sounded reinvigorated, and also sounded like he was ignoring Will.   
  
“No, I said! Nico. Nickie. _Hunny bunches of death_.” Nico rolled his eyes at the nicknames. “I won’t do that…thing you like in bed!”  
  
“Woah, dudes, don't need to know that much.” Sierra complained and Percy nodded in agreement. Annabeth similarly rolled her eyes.  
  
“We both know that's a promise you can't keep.” Nico stated blankly, while Will spluttered indignantly. “I'll let you know when we'll be back. Love you, Solace.”   
  
“If you interfere too much-“ Percy started, and Nico held up a hand.  
  
“I get it, Jackson.” Nico tended to revert to last names when angry. “I’ll just…stay close by.”  
  
And with that Nico vanished into the shadows.  
  
“I hate it when he does that,” Will sighed. “Long term shadow travel is not good for him.”  
  
“You need to stop babying _him_ too,” Jason shrugged. “Nico can handle it. He knows his limits. He’s an adult.”  
  
“I know,” Will sighed. “I just...worry. It's my job to worry. Like, it’s literally my job description to worry about health and wellness.”  
  
  
–   
  
  
The Trio made it just to a small suburb outside of Detroit, before stopping for snacks and to rest.  
  
“I’m glad you’re a son of Hermes,” Bianca praised Luke, looking pleased with the progress they had made. “If it wasn’t for that cloaking thing from your dad, there’s no way that Nico, or Jason, or someone wouldn’t have caught up to us by now.   
  
Luke looked up from the map he was looking over and sent Bianca a wry smile.  “Yeah well, works against the living alright. We’ll see how well it works if your brother starts sending skeletons after us. It’s just a prototype anyway.”  
  
“Is it always so cold here?” Cleo complained, pulling a thick jacket around their thin frame. Luke’s nose was red, and he seemed to be trying to hide the fact he had started shivering when they arrived. Bianca didn’t look cold, but she had gifts from the Hunters of Artemis.  
  
“That’s weird,” Luke muttered, looking down at his cellphone. Demigod made and manufactured. “It’s…not.”  
  
“Not what?” Bianca asked, as Cleo huddled in closer to Festus.  
  
“Cold. It’s supposed to be about 63 degrees right now. I thought something was up when we went to get hotdogs earlier. Cool out, sure, but it feels at _least_ twenty degrees colder out.” Luke pointed across the way from the empty lot they were stopped in. Nowhere of importance, demigods always stopped in landmarks of cultural importance and it never went well, so the group figured why not try going nowhere of importance.  
“It’s early spring, so a cold snap isn’t _hugely_ unexpected, especially in Michigan… but those flowers and trees are blooming. Nothing has ice or frost on it. There’s no snow anywhere. And, there’s nothing on any forecast indicating this town should be this cold. Do you have a thermometer on Festus anywhere, Cleo?”  


Cleo frowned, before beginning to dig through her belt, tossing bits and bobs onto the ground until she found what she wanted. “Aha! It’s ah…32 degrees Fahrenheit. 0 degrees Celsius. We’re right at freezing.   
  
Bianca exchanged looks with the other two, and her finger was itching to be on her bow. “So. Monster then?”  
  
“I don’t think I need to shake a Magic 8 Ball for that answer. Do we do anything about it?”  
  
Luke shrugged, grabbing on another jacket. “Don’t see why we need to search it out. Plus, sooner or later these things seem to have a way of finding us.”  
  
Something whizzed past his head and embedded itself in the side of a tree. It looked like a hockey puck. If he hadn’t been bending down at that very moment, it would have lodged itself in his brain.  
Luke glanced up, eyes wide, before he pointed at it. “ _See_. What did I say?”  
  
“Fire is Bad!” A voice shouted, and the trio looked towards a pond that was rapidly turning to ice.  
  
  
-  
  
  
“Cleo did what?” Frank asked flatly, and Hazel sighed loudly.  
  
“My baby sister and my Cleo. I'm…not hugely shocked though, I have to admit.” Hazel said, hugging Nico once. “Did you make it here alright?”  
  
“I'm fine. That distance at night by myself isn't a problem.” Nico nodded, and embraced her back. It'd have been worse if he was transporting say a bunch of people and a statue mid day, but this he could handle with ease.  
  
“So grounded.” Frank grumbled, pouring a very large cup of tea. “So...so grounded.”  
  
“You can't ground Cleo, Frank.” Hazel smiled knowingly. Frank even more than Jason had taken on a strong ‘I’m the responsible big brother’ type personality with Cleo. Then again, Frank had a tendency to do that with anyone shorter than him, which was virtually most the worlds population.  
  
“Actually, go ahead. Sierra agreed to allow Cleo to stay here for a while, if you want to let part or all of that be a grounding.” Nico shot the other man a dark grin, while Hazel tried not to laugh.   
  
“Don’t encourage him.”  
  
  
-  
  
  
“I’m really beginning to take this personally,” Cleo complained, flung over the shoulder of a big dude in a hockey jersey. Bianca and Luke followed close behind, hands tied. They had been taken further into town, but still within the outskirts of the small outer suburb. They seemed to be heading towards a fish packing factory that had gone out of business, but was still, ‘nice and cold.’  
  
“Shut up, Valdez.” A pale woman with long dark hair hissed. She was pretty, really pretty. Cleo scrunched up her nose to stare at the woman, like a magic eye painting. Pretty familiar. Really familiar.  
  
“My last name is actually Velez,” Cleo corrected, but frowned that this woman knew the name Valdez. “Where are we going? Who are you?”  
  
“Don’t play coy with me, Leo Valdez,” the woman said. “You know very well that I am Khione. How dare you enter my territory once again. I thought you dead, but I suppose cockroaches never die. I don’t care if Gaea failed, I’ll finish you myself. You vermin.”  
  
“Yeah,” Luke called cheerily up to Cleo. “You should probably start taking it personally.”  
  
“Right?” Cleo whined, looking back at her friends. “This is really uncomfortable by the way, why am I over the shoulder and they get to walk? My ribs hurt. I’m a delicate flower.”  
  
“Small,” the big guy holding her said. “Small. But…Scary. Fire.”  
  
“What my brother is say, my dears, is that you pose the greatest risk to us. Given our history.” A skinnier guy said, flipping hair back over his shoulder in a show.  
  
Bianca narrowed her eyes at him. “I feel like I’ve seen you in 80’s music videos. Or maybe…Stranger Things?”  
  
“They really should have stopped at three seasons.” Luke turned to Bianca.  
  
“Yeah, or the fourth when it turned out Will was Hopper all along but stuck in a time loop felt really over the top.”   
  
“They definitely jumped the shark with that whole talking friendly demagorgon thing,” Luke agreed.  
  
“ _Shut up_!” Khione yelled, and the trio got quiet.  
“I hate children. This is why I got rid of all of mine,” the ice woman muttered, before something seemed to dawn on her.   
She walked closer, and looked at Cleo carefully. “How quickly do demigods age, again? You seem very young. No taller though.”  
  
Something in the back of Cleo’s mind lashed out at being called short. “Lady, I keep telling you. I’m not Leo Valdez. My name is Cleo Velez.”  
  
“Same name?” The guy holding Cleo asked in confusion, and Cleo shook her head.  
“No, not same name. Close though. Understandable confusion. Say, hey buddy, do you know anything about a relic going missing? Apollo’s relic?”  
  
“…Re-lic?”  


Luke let out a bark of laughter, “I think you’re asking up the wrong tree, Cleo. Actually, you might have more luck actually asking a tree. I hear occasionally they pop out demigods.”  
  
“Really? No one knows anything about the relic, or Apollo… or anything?” Cleo asked, looking between the captors.   
  
“No, I’ve not heard anything about some relic. I’ve not seen Apollo since…” Khione trailed off, a slightly wistful look on her face. “I may be about to kill you, but I feel as though there are somethings that shouldn’t be discussed in front of children.”  
  
“Ew,” Bianca wrinkled her nose. “I guess we’re done here, then…”  
  
Cleo sighed, “I guess so.”  
  
Bianca and Luke stopped walking, and the three captors in front of them paused. The woman frowned.   
  
“Why aren’t you moving? Do you want to die quicker?”   
  
Luke raised his hands, having easily gotten out of the binds they had been in, and Khione looked momentarily taken back. She was likely about to ice him, or yell at her brothers to kill them, when she was cut off.  
  
“Oh, Khione, they stopped because they don’t want to be near me right now.” Cleo smiled, and Khione turned slowly to meet her eyes. “See, we’re trying to find something, but since you don’t know anything about it…well…”

Cleo’s eyes were bright, unnaturally bright. A flame was lit behind them.  
“Have I ever thanked you for what you did to me last time? Bit far south aren’t you?”  
  
“You-“ Khione’s eyes widened as fire began to arc over Cleo’s hands. Then, Cleo burst entirely into flames. Calais screamed, his shoulder being burnt, dropping her to the ground.  
  
Cleo stood up slowly, body burning and fingers glowing. “ _Sorry_ , I lied. I _am_ Leo Valdez.”  
  
Bianca turned to Luke, “Oh! I heard you guys in the Hermes cabin got the newest Play Station? I meant to ask you earlier.”  
  
“Oh, yeah. Bit of hard work, getting it before it was released, but you know us.” Luke nodded, waving a hand. “Apparently though, Hephaestus is a bit upset at Hermes over the whole thing, because Hermes gave one of my older sisters the means in which to snatch it. But it was a Hephaestus kid project, along with a few Athena kids. Hephaestus doesn’t want to tell Athena he lost it, because obviously she’s terrifying.” Bianca nodded. “It’s a whole thing.”  
  
Screams echoed in the background and fire let off long humanoid shadows on the surrounding buildings.  
  
“How’d your visit with the Hunters go last month? You’ve been closed lipped about the whole thing. Trying to recruit you still? Is that why you were so eager to go off on this mission?” Luke asked, and Bianca sighed.  
  
“Yes, and sort of. It went fine. I like seeing Artemis, and Thalia.” Luke made a face, not getting along particularly well with Thalia. “But, I just want to live my own life. I’m getting pushed from every angle, by Nico, by Artemis. I just want to make my own choices. I want to see the world for myself. I spent too long just doing what I was told to in that loft. What to study, when to study, when to eat, when to exercise. Sure, I had free time to watch whatever, read whatever, but I thought things were going to be different at Camp Half Blood. I still don’t feel like I have much of a choice in anything.”  
  
Luke agreed, having felt much the same way. Luke had a somewhat relaxed childhood getting occasionally lessons and outings with Hermes, but ever since he went to Camp, Annabeth and Chiron seemed to not give Luke a moment to breathe.   
“You don’t think the Hunters would be different, then?”  
  
“I don’t know,” Bianca admitted. “Maybe, maybe not. All I know was they were involved in ‘keeping me safe’ when I was growing up. I’m tired of people being so obsessed with my well-being they ignore my actual well-being.”  
  
The light and heat around them seemed to start to fade and the screams had stopped.  
  
“Uh, Bianca. _Help_.” Cleo called out. Bianca pulled some extra clothes from their bag and trotted over to the now clothes-less (except the belt) child of Hephaestus. Cleo still hadn’t figured out a reliable way to go full flame-on without just destroying all of their clothes in the process. Still, the last year or so of training had gone a long way towards helping Cleo control her powers. According to Piper and Jason, Cleo had a better grasp on it than Leo had, granted they mentioned Leo had some personal issues attached to his fire and never was keen on learning how to use it. He hadn’t talked about it much with them, or anyone.   
  
 Luke played a quick game on his phone while Cleo got redressed.  
“So, you knew who they were?” Luke asked, as the two walked back over. Cleo looked particularly unhappy with losing another set of clothes.  
  
“Vaguely,” Cleo shrugged, looking away. It didn’t seem to be the entire truth. “I know I met them before with Jason and Piper, as Leo. Khione, Calais, Zethes. Children of Boreas. I’m pretty sure last I really remember was they were in Canada somewhere. I don’t remember a ton besides, you know.”  
  
“Them being flammable?”  
  
“Exactly.”  
  
“Well, I guess we continue on.” Cleo whistled for Festus.  
  
 Something had felt a bit different that time. Cleo hadn’t said it to purposely scare Khione.  
Calling herself Leo Valdez just slipped out naturally.  
It wasn’t as though Cleo had never mixed up the names before, it happened from time to time. But, Cleo had never felt so consciously _Leo_ before. His emotions, his memories, his flames.   
  
It wasn’t ‘I was Leo Valdez.’  
It was ‘I _am_.’  
  
  
-  


  
“Have you been at all in contact with Apollo recently?” Nico asked Reyna, after they had gotten past their hellos.   
  
“Apollo has us all in on a chain message,” Reyna looked very tired, and held up a phone showing a great deal of text, primarily from a single person. “Me, Meg, Grover, the others that were all primarily involved in the _Lester_ incident. So, have I heard from him? Technically, yes. But, have we had an actual conversation recently? No. Why?”  
  
“Cleo, Bianca, and Luke have seemingly all gone on a quest. Apparently for something relating to a relic of Apollo.” Hazel told the senator. Reyna absentmindedly scratched the head of one of her metal dogs.  
  
“I see… I can try and ask him, but it might be better if you ask Meg. I feel like that’s the best path towards getting a straight forward message. Have you tried an Iris message, or anything like that?”  
  
“ _Luke_ ,” Nico said the name with a good deal of annoyance behind it. “ _Apparently_ has something from his father that blocks communication, identification, etc.” Nico grumbled. “And Hermes is no help, he gave it to Luke. My look outs aren’t of much help either, especially when they’re traveling by air on Festus.”  
  
“Clever,” Reyna was immediately thinking of the advantages of such a device on wide-scale use, especially for the Roman military. “So, Nico. Why are you trying to hunt down children on a quest? Isn’t this fairly standard for your camp?”  
  
“Yes,” Nico admitted through clenched teeth. “But they’re usually not Bianca.”  
  
Hazel exchanged a look with Reyna, a silent conversation. Reyna nodded just barely in understanding. Nico needed a distraction.  
  
“Ah, well. I’ll look into it, but in the meantime, why don’t we take this chance to catch up?”  
  
  
-  
  
  
“Well, this is creepy,” Luke said lightly, as the trio walked into an abandoned sanctuary of some kind in the middle of nowhere South Dakota. It was a large glassed in enclosure, but pieces had been broken off and apart, shards laid strewn across the ground in chunks.   
But, moreover, the bigger issue was the fact that all the trees and walkways were covered in crows. Crows watching, staring, waiting.   
  
“Anyone feel like yakitori?” Cleo asked, unnerved by the black eyes watching them. Afraid if she did use any fire powers, they might attack.  
  
“I watched the movie, The Birds, a few times.” Bianca said, bow and arrow drawn at her side. “This feels worse somehow.”  
  
“Look, up there.” Luke pointed to a broken pillar in the middle of the building. A single crow sat atop it, preening itself, instead of watching the trio. No, not a crow. It was too big. A raven.  
Luke moved silently towards it, he could move like Bianca and Cleo could not, get into places they could not. All came with the territory of being a child of Hermes and having been trained by Hermes for years even before coming to Camp Half Blood.   
Luke wouldn’t admit some of it seemed to come naturally, he had fragments of memories of quests, fights, battles, before his death and birth.   
  
“It looks like something is missing,” Luke called back. “There’s an indent here. Looks like there are…offerings, maybe. There’s bits of metal, and jewelry, twigs and things.”  
  
“Like, things crows would leave?” Bianca asked, and Luke nodded. “Weird. Do you think this is the missing relic?”  
  
“Why does Apollo have a bird relic?” Cleo asked, and it was a wrong thing to say. All the crows in the building focused their eyes solely on Cleo, who froze at the attention.  
“Uh, nice birdies. Do you not like me talking about Apollo-“ The raven on the makeshift altar let out a croak, and rattled it’s feathers.  
“Okay, noted. ‘A’ word bad. We’re trying to bring back what’s missing. Can you help us?”  
  
The birds cocked their heads to the side a few times, sizing them up.   
  
“If they open their beaks and have teeth, I’m leaving you all to die,” Luke whispered, and Bianca made a very Italian hand gesture at him.

“ _Bring it back_?” A soft, pretty voice asked, and it took the trio a moment to realize where it was coming from. The raven, on the altar.  
  
“I didn’t know they could parrot people…” Cleo said, and Bianca shook her head, eyes big.  
  
“It didn’t. Parroting is…mimicry; it…paraphrased.”   
The raven cocked its head again, appraising them.  
  
“ _You’ll bring it back to me_?” It asked, voice so, so sad. “ _It was for my son. It belongs to my son. You’ll bring it back to me_?”  
  
“Yes,” Bianca said firmly. “That’s why we’re here. We want to help. We’ll bring back what belongs to your son.”  
  
“ _If you don’t_ …” the raven started softly, sounding uncertain. “ _If you don’t, I’ll have to kill them_.”  
  
“...Kill…who?” Bianca asked.  
  
“ _Every child of Apollo, and everything precious to him._ ” The birds in the atrium all began to caw, until the three were forced to run out of the building, holding their hands over their ears.  
  
“Well, that could have gone worse.” Luke grinned, before high fiving Cleo who laughed in return as they got onto Festus again. Bianca stared at the two, brows furrowed.   
  
“Did you not-“  
  
“Hear her? She threatened to kill children of Apollo, and gave us no time tables.” Luke said, liked it was obvious. “No, ‘ _the children of death are free and must return the item for a fee; if they do not, the world will end in days three._ ’ type of bullshit prophecy. I really hate those.”  
  
“And, now we know it belongs to someone who _really_ doesn’t like Apollo. That’s got to narrow down the field.” Cleo added. “I mean, not a lot, but still.”  
  
Bianca huffed, climbing up onto Festus. Luke laughed, and apologized. 

“I’m sorry B, we’re not making light of it, I swear. I mean, no more than we normally would.”   
  
Cleo turned and for a second, it felt like she saw another blond man and another dark haired girl in their place.  
A feather had gotten stuck in Bianca’s hair, which she pulled out and tossed to the ground.  
  
“California,” Cleo said. “I…feel like we need to go to California.”  
  
“What? Why?” Bianca asked.  
  
“I don’t know. I can’t explain it. I just feel like we need to go to California.” That’s where Hera was trapped, wait, no, that was another lifetime. Did they need to go to California? Or was Cleo retracing Leo’s footsteps?   
Cleo began to tap on her thigh.  
  
-  
  
  
“Apollo’s relic,” Meg said, spinning a knife between her fingers, looking bored. “Nope. Isn’t his. It’s his sons.”  
  
“His son? Which?” Meg looked over the rim of her glasses at Hazel and Frank.  
  
“Don’t know, don’t care. All I know was he was bitching about it going missing, and how badly he felt. He feels things a lot, all the time. It’s exhausting.”  
  
“Do…you not feel things?” Frank asked slowly and got a blank stare in response. “Oookay, never mind. Do you have any clues as to where it might have ended up?”  
  
“If we did, why would I be here talking to you? I’d already have killed whoever took it.” Frank and Hazel exchanged a look. “Your problem is you don’t look at the big picture.” Meg stated.   
  
“Big…picture?”  
  
“I don’t know where the relic is, but I have a good guess as to where Cleo is. That’s why you’re asking, right?” The two Romans nodded.  “A town outside Detroit had a massive fire a few days ago, spotted by a bunch of people in apartments nearby. But, left no trace. Then, a day later, a state over, a museum in Chicago got broken into. Again, no trace of anyone or anything missing.” Meg listed off, allowing Frank and Hazel to catch up.  
  
“All these little things, weird things, all along a nearly straight path line. Looks like they’re probably nearly to Nevada by now. Because they’re definitely headed west.”  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Khione and bros are further south because they can go further south during winter, as spring approaches, they go back up to quebec. or...so...i've decided for the sake of the story.


	6. Quest 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids get more leads, the adults get more leads on the kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive actually had this idea for a few years, just didn't write it up, and then when i did write it, i waited to post it. obviously things have changed and expanded. if you were to have followed me on tumblr years ago, around the time of BoO, you would have seen extremely terrible fanart I made based on the idea.  
> similarly, i also made bad art of a ladyleo, which I guess kind of ties into this.  
> the more you know~*

  
  


The trio looked down into the big hole in the ground. The sun was setting, but still unfortunately hot in the early spring of Central Nevada. There were no trees nearby, no big bushes, not much in the way of animal life, weirdly enough.  
  
“Diana’s punch bowl?” Cleo asked, crouching down on the dirt and pebble. “Weird name.”  
  
“Also happily called the ' _Devil’s Cauldron'_ ,” Luke said, saying the last part in an over the top ‘spooky’ voice. “I think that’s more because it’s a hot spring. Hot springs in the middle of Nevada would be pretty hellish. Plus, look around. I can’t imagine no one fell into this place.”  
  
Dirt, brush, more dirt and rock stretched in every direction until the mountains started to rise up. There were no people, no towns. Not within the Humbolt-Toiyabe National Park. The Punch Bowl was on a mild hill, nothing remarkable, but opened into a vast round cavern below. It would be hard to see coming from on foot.  
  
Cleo frowned, mumbling something to herself about Mount Devil, no, _Diablo_.  


Bianca turned around and started pulling things out of her bag, including a good sized rope. “I think we’re here more for the _Diana_ part, than the _Devil_ part. Or, at least that’s what the ghost told me in Durango. It seems to have been a stop for the Hunters, but they stopped coming for some reason. It might not have anything to do with the relic, but I’m curious as to why.”  
  
“Global warming? Too hot to take a dip?” Cleo offered, tossing a rock down into the waters far below. “How did they even get down there?”  
  
Luke was eyeing Bianca suspiciously. “Why do you care what the Hunters were doing?”  
  
Bianca huffed, and tied back her hair. “It’s not about the Hunters. Artemis and Apollo have been connected for a long time, it seems weird to me, that around the same time something of Apollo’s has gone missing, and a gigantic crow army is threatening death; that for unknown reasons Artemis is keeping her hunters away from specifically _here_. A big hole in the middle of nowhere.”  
  
Luke seemed skeptical but said nothing more. He grabbed up his own bag and began digging something out. A pair of sneakers, for climbing down the rocky and hard terrain. Gloves, of various make, which he had for unknown reasons. (stealing was probably the reason.)  
  
“Plus,” Bianca pointed towards some small shrubs off in the distance. “That is great basin sage. Family, _Artemisia_. Common to the region, yet weirdly I don’t see any around the punch bowl itself. There’s some plants at the bottom, near the water, but they look like something else.”  
  
Cleo grabbed the other end of the rope Bianca had pulled out and began fastening it to Festus. “Why do you possibly know that? You’ve been spending too much time around the Athena kids, haven’t you?”  
  
Bianca’s cheeks turned red. “I haven’t. I just…Look, when you grow up stuck pretty much by yourself, you find ways to pass the time. My thing was movies, TV, and national geographic.”  
  
“So, who goes down, and why is it Cleo?” Luke asked, already grabbing for the smaller travel partner, who began to back away.  
  
“Hey, hey! No! Why Cleo?” Festus made a few grinding noises, and Cleo looked up at the dragon in betrayal. “So, what if it’s a hot spring and I’m fireproof? I’m tiny, and I can’t swim very well!”  
  
“I’m kidding, jeez.” Luke flicked one of Cleo’s ears. “Relax, gremlin.”

“I’ll go,” Bianca said, and Luke shook his head.  
  
“No you won’t. I’ll go. I’m the oldest, fastest, and most replaceable.”  


Bianca and Cleo started to argue, mostly the last point, but Luke was already securing the rope around his waist and walking over to the end of the cauldron.  
“It’ll be a piece of cake. Don’t worry about it.” Luke shot them a grin. “See you topside! Talk about your feelings regarding the latest Fantastic Beasts movie! That’ll keep Bianca distracted for about an hour!”  
  
The two left at the mouth of the bowl, ran over and watched as Luke slowly descended the rock face. It wasn’t horrible, really, there were a bunch of small ledges and stones so he could get his footing. Luke seemed fairly blasé about the whole thing, leisurely climbing down towards an outcrop of land and brush, instead of into the water itself.  
Bianca glared, and tossed a pebble down at his head with good aim. He made annoying kissy faces up at her.  
  
“It’s not my fault that I have strong opinions…” Bianca mumbled.  
  
“…Luke’s been weird,” Cleo said to Bianca, who chanced a glance. “I mean, weirder than usual for Luke. Ever since we ran into those Hunters, in the mountains outside Sioux City. Thalia… really doesn’t like him much does she?”  


Bianca bit her lip, remembering the tight mouthed looks and short comments Thalia had made with Luke. It was an accidental encounter, but of course the Hunters loved Bianca. They treated her well, always made sure she had all the supplies she needed.  
But, it was really _only_ Bianca they liked. Thalia wasn’t big on Cleo, apparently having been rather annoyed by Leo – but when it came to Luke, the air felt sharp around them. They smelled ozone around them. They all became increasingly aware of the fact that Thalia was much older than she looked, and much stronger than people admitted.  
  
Luke always seemed torn between wanting to talk to the Huntress more, yet was scared or her, or at the very least unnerved by her; but another part of him simultaneously seemed angry with Thalia. Luke always got the short end of the stick when it came to people judging him based on the actions of Luke Castellan, but Thalia reacted worst than most.  
 The first time they had ever met, Thalia had threatened him. Annabeth chewed Thalia out, possibly the one person able to chastise Thalia other than Artemis. But, the damage was done. It had set a mood.  
Thalia being unaging, had far too many memories and her grasp on the passing of time grew increasingly muddled.  
Luke, had very few memories (that he admitted to) and was growing increasingly tired of being judged.  
It was complicated.  
  
Cleo spent most her time at Camp Half Blood, or in New Rome during the school year. They had not always had it, but installed small schools and teachers for demigod students. Bianca similarly was close by, and would visit very frequently on weekends.  
Luke didn’t step foot into Camp during the school year. He’d visit Cleo, Bianca, some other friends he had made – but he avoided the oldest residents like the plague.  
  
“It’s…not that she doesn’t like him. I think it’s that she does and doesn’t want to. I think seeing Luke like he is now, reminds her of how _he_ was, which reminds her of being betrayed. Well, that’s what Will said anyway. Nico says Will is too idealistic on the issue. But, either way... I don’t think that’s entirely it either. I don’t think it’s just the Hunters.” Bianca sighed. “I know Luke hasn’t been sleeping a lot. I think he’s been dreaming, and dreaming for _us_ means…”  
  
“Memories,” Cleo finished for her.  
  
“I think…from what I’ve heard, Luke might not be wanting us to get hurt…because he might be remembering _that_ Luke. That Luke, with Thalia and Annabeth. He’s been weirdly overprotective recently, right?” It was true, ever since the Quest had started, Luke made sure they didn’t go anywhere alone, he made sure they always had a buddy system, even to the toilets.  
  
Cleo hummed, but didn’t say much more. Cleo’d had their own share of memories starting to pop up. Luke wasn’t the only one not sleeping much.  
  
“Do… you think it’s because we’re on a quest? Maybe it’s rekindling those memories?” Cleo asked, having nearly called Bianca, Piper a day or two ago. “Or was this always bound to happen?”  
  
“Maybe- hey, I think Luke found something.” Bianca leaned over the side further, until she felt Festus lightly grab onto her shoe and drag her back an inch or two. Festus tolerated Luke, but he seemed to quite like Bianca.  
  
Luke stood at the bottom of the cauldron, near the water, crouched down and seemingly talking to a dryad of some kind that had emerged. It had skin the color of bark, a light ashy brown, and hair like soft yellow petals.  
  
“That’s not a sage plant?” Cleo asked, and Bianca shook her head.

“I think it’s a creosote bush… Maybe.”  
  
“Creosote? Maybe I _should_ have been the one to go down there…”  
  
Suddenly Luke looked startled, and looked towards the water, and then back up at Cleo and Bianca.  The water began to bubble and boil, steam began to rise, and the dryad vanished back into her bush. Luke similarly, started to back up, towards his rope.  


Bianca was opening her mouth to yell down to him, when suddenly the water rushed upwards as a geyser. Burning liquid splashed down around them, and Festus grabbed Bianca backwards and kept her covered under a wing. Cleo got doused and was left looking almost like they had a light sunburn, but otherwise was fine from the heat.  


The water wasn’t water anymore, it was inky black oil. Like the wings of a crow.  


“Luke!” Bianca screamed, trying to move, but Festus kept her close by. Cleo ran over to the edge, looking for any sign of Luke’s body left below.  
  
“That was close,” Luke said. Cleo and Bianca froze, and looked upwards from where the voice and came from.  
Luke was floating in the sky, about twenty feet up. He had a small splattering of dark spots on his jeans, but otherwise looked completely fine.  
  
“Why can all of my blond guy friends fly?” Cleo asked, astonished. Then Bianca realized why.  
  
“Your shoes, you have Hermes shoes.” Luke floated back down, and they could more easily see the wings on the back of the sneakers he was wearing. They had seemed to unfold off the side of the shoe.  
  
“Yeah, well, I had a feeling they might come in handy. They’re not the…you know, classic ones. These are new. Had them made special. Nike’s _Fear of God 1_ series, with some Hermes patented additions. You know I appreciate a well-placed God pun.” Luke pointed at the pair. “Hadn’t actually ever used them though, so I’m glad I didn’t just, you know, horrifically burn to death.”  
  
“ _Yeah_ ,” Cleo stared blankly. “Who would want to experience that?”  
  
“Either way, I’m glad you’re okay.”

Bianca hugged Luke, and though Cleo wanted to join in on the hugfest, was currently covered in oil. More than usual, anyway.  
  
“What happened with that dryad?” Bianca asked, a few minutes later, after Luke and Cleo had changed, and after they had moved away from the devil’s punch bowl. Last they saw, after giving a final look, the creosote dryads had emerged once again and seemed to be fully enjoying the oil.

“She said something about birds dropping things into it,” Luke nodded. “Crows, I’d wager. How spots sacred to Artemis and Apollo are being destroyed, poisoned. I get the feeling it wasn’t so random we ran into Thalia when we did back then, I think they’re probably out scouting locations and places sacred to Artemis or Diana.”  
  
“So,” Cleo was in clothing change #15 since the start of their quest. “Who hates Apollo and Artemis? And is also…like, super into birds?”  


-  


Apollo took a more human looking form, and sat before the Romans, plus Nico and Meg. Well, Meg wasn’t really paying much attention.  
  
“Do you know the myth of Koronis?” Apollo asked, looking rather upset.  
  
“Yes,” answered Reyna, Hazel, Frank, and Nico. Apollo ignored them and carried on.  
  
“She was a mortal I loved, desperately. We laid together, and she became pregnant. Eventually, I had to go away, and I was gone for a long period of time. She fell in love with another, and when I found out they had slept together, while she was pregnant with my child…”  
  
“You killed her.” Reyna stated, it wasn’t a question. Apollo sighed, and rested his chin on his hand.

“It isn’t quite that simple. I asked _Artemis_ to kill her. And she did. But I felt regret, even then. I tried to save her, but it was too late, far too late. I could only save our child. Asclepius. But, this is where the myths get something wrong. They say that the crows and ravens are black, because I cursed the bird who told me of her infidelity. In actuality…I made Koronis _into_ a raven, to live on. It was the one way I could try and make up my mistake to her. At least at the time. And then, I must admit. I forgot about her.”  
  
“Get to the point,” Meg cut in, and Apollo glared up at her.  
  
“The point is, ever since my stint as a human, as you know I’ve been trying to make amends for my actions as a God. Too many people were hurt, because of my carelessness and ego. I was working with Chiron, and with Jason, in attempts to build a temple to Koronis. To make her into a minor Goddess, so she could be with her son again. To let her live a better life.”  
  
“But a relic of hers went missing?” Hazel asked, but Apollo shook his head.  
  
“Not exactly a relic of hers, or of mine. It was the first gift I ever gave little _Sclepy_ as a baby. An early version of his staff. It had some minor healing abilities. I didn’t take it from Koronis, I don’t know who did, but whoever did must have discovered its location due to the fact I was planning on moving it to the new Temple.”  
  
“So,” Frank tapped a finger onto the table in front of him. “Cleo, and the others. They’re just trying to find this staff? That shouldn’t be a problem, should it?”  
  
The door swung open, and Thalia Grace marched in, with Piper and Jason behind her.  
  
“We have a problem.”  
  
Apollo groaned, while Meg said something about, ‘great timing.’  
  
“Me and a few of the girls ran into Luke, Cleo and Bianca a few days ago.” Thalia continued, casting one small look towards Apollo, before looking far more professional.  
“They seemed to all be fine but had some issues with birds. Crows. A lot of crows, and apparently a talking raven.”  
  
“Gee, I wonder who that could be?” Meg said, bored, while Apollo had his head in his hands.  
  
“We were on our way here, when we ran into Thalia,” Jason greeted the other Romans.  
  
“And now we have a warning,” Piper said, looking apologetic. “Apparently Koronis is threatening the death of all children of Apollo, if the relic is not returned to her.”  
  
Nico sat up sharply. “ _What_?” He hissed, black eyes cutting over to Apollo. “If Will is hurt in any way…”  
  
“Can she even do that?” Hazel asked Thalia, who had a grim expression.  
  
“We think she might be able to do a good deal of harm, because right now she’s destroying sacred sites of Artemis, and I’d imagine Apollo.”  
  
“Even when I try to do good, things go terribly.” Apollo dragged hands down his face.  
  
“Welcome to life as a demigod.”  
  
“Do you have any leads?” Frank asked, ignoring Apollo and Meg bickering.  
  
“One,” said Thalia. “But... it’s a weird one.”  
  
  
  
  
  
Cleo broke with the group. They were stopped in a tiny little town in Eastern California called Baker, and Cleo couldn’t sleep. Bianca was supposed to be look out, but she had fallen asleep an hour or so back. It didn’t matter, since Cleo was awake, but the young mechanic was growing increasingly restless.  
  
“Hey, bud, keep watch okay?” Cleo stood up, brushing herself off, and patting Festus who gave a quiet creek of acceptance.  
  
There was a 24 hour convenience store not far away, and so Cleo went, with the intent of buying some snacks.  
  
“Maybe beer, I mean, technically I should be old enough to buy beer right?” Cleo kicked a rock. “If I hadn’t blown up, anyway. Or, I guess… if the cure had worked like it was supposed to.”  
  
Cleo shoved her hands in her pockets, and stomped into the market, ignoring the little voices in her head. ‘ _What about Calypso, you left her_!’ One said.  
Calypso had long since been gone from Ogygia. Cleo had never met her, but Percy had assured her that it was because of Leo that the Gods lifted Calypso’s curse.   
‘ _She never loved me_ ,’ that voice said again, sounding a lot like Cleo. Or, maybe Leo.  
  
Cleo grabbed about five bags of various things off the shelves, and walked over to the ice cream section. She heard a ding, as someone else entered the market.

 “Valdez?” A voice asked, and Cleo froze. No one who knew Cleo’s real name- no, old name, previous name- meant anything good, generally speaking.  
Cleo turned, and looked at a moderately tall young man. He was about the age of Jason, Frank, the rest of the young adults.  
  
He had curly dark hair, dark eyes, a warm tan. Handsome, but covered in scars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wonder who it is maybe he likes nebraska based football
> 
> no one will ever fully appreciate the amount of time i spend on google maps for every single one of my stories.


	7. Chapter 7

He looked much the same as he had all those years ago, though unlike Cleo, had felt the passage of time. His hair was cropped a bit shorter, his face was more mature, and his body looked like that of an adults.   
Thankfully, however, Lityerses had long since abandoned his cornhuskers jersey. 

“Ahh, nevermind. You’re just a kid.” Lityerses seemed to realize his mistake and shrugged a shoulder, walking past Cleo. “Easy mistake to make, given his hei-“  
  
Something snapped, and Cleo lunged at Lityerses, arms ablaze, but the man jerked back in time to not be burned.  
  
“ _Hi_ , Lit.” Cleo grinned, toothy smile. “I thought you were still gold.”  
  
Lityerses raised an eyebrow and put a hand on his sword hanging at his side. “Well, fuck me.  I forgot you weren't still dead, Valdez."  
  
Cleo threw fire at him, setting a rack of tourist trap hats on fire behind him as he dodged behind it.   
  
“Sucks, doesn’t it? Dying and coming back? Everything changes _so_ much. Of course, you came back immediately. It took me,“ Lit ducked under a row of automotive items as more fire was sent his way, “a couple _thousand_ years.”  
  
“ _Shut up_!” Cleo hissed, sliding into the next aisle. “Why are you here, what do you have to do with Apollo?!”  
  
Lityerses paused, expression pondering. “Apollo? Nothing. We’re friends. Look, Valdez, you’ve missed a lot, I-“  
  
Cleo grabbed a snowglobe that said Baker California in it, and threw it at his head. He grabbed it out of the air, but it was a distraction for Cleo to get close enough to hit him.   
Still, Lityerses had significantly more time and training that Cleo had, or even Leo, and shoved her backwards with a hilt of his sword, hitting Cleo in the ribs and knocking the demigod down.  
  
“Stop it, kid.” Lit leaned over her and looked highly annoyed. “I’m not your enemy. I don’t know how much you’ve heard, but I helped Apollo out years ago. I helped your friends. Whatever issues you have with me, it was settled long ago.”  


Cleo was breathing hard, but let the fires begin to die out on her arms, before they destroyed her clothes completely.  
  
“You’re…”  
  
“Older and wiser, and also got betrayed and nearly killed a few more times by people I worked for.” Lityerses replied easily. “So, are you going to tell me why you of all people are in Baker bumfuck California?”  
  
Cleo eyed him suspiciously, pushing herself up. “We’re on a Quest. Someone stole a relic of Apollo.”  
Lityerses didn’t look like he knew of it, waving his hand for her to continue.   
“…There’s a Raven, she said it belonged to her son. But someone took it, and now she’s threatening to kill demigod children of Apollo and seems to be destroying sacred places to both Apollo and Artemis.”  
  
“A raven?” Lit mumbled, before something seemed to dawn on his face. “Koronis?”  
  
“I…don’t know,” Cleo admitted. “We just know the trail seems to be leading towards California. To the Channel Islands. Bianca talks to ghosts, so…”  


“Right, right,” Lityerses seemed to be deep in thought, and scratched at his chin. “Well that explains why she’s been in a bad mood recently. She keeps notes on you, and then you went and disappeared.”  
  
“Koronis?” Cleo asked, confused. Lityerses laughed, and shook his head.  
  
“Calypso,” he corrected. “She’s always had a soft spot for you.”  
  
Cleo felt the world turn cold around her, and something weird began to bubble up in her chest.   
“…You…know Calypso?” Please, don’t answer that, Cleo thought.  
  
“After she was released from Ogygia, she ended up on a Quest with Apollo. We met then, and we both ended up living together for a while in a place called the Waystation. She always said you would have liked the place.” Lit shrugged a shoulder. “Well, we hated each other at first, since I had been working for the enemy at the time. I was a real piece of shit, she was pretty stuck up, but we were both lost in time and place. No real family. Then, one thing led to another. We got closer. We’re married now.”

“Oh,” Cleo said, brain going blank but hot white. She stood up and walked past Lityerses. “I need to go outside for a second.”  
  
Lityerses looked out the window just in time to see a gigantic fireball light up the sky. “… _Yikes_.”  
After the fireshow was over, he walked out the front door after tossing a bunch of gold at the cowering 7/11 attendant behind the counter. Who knows what the mortal man saw through the mist.

 Cleo was sitting in the middle of a blackened circle, clothes entirely gone. “Well, that’s pair 18.”  
  
Lit walked back into the shop, grabbed off a few oversized shirts that said BAKER on them, tossed more money on the counter, and then threw the bunch onto Cleo. It looked like a large strange tunic.

 “Life’s weird, kid.” Lit said, as Cleo shrugged the shirt over herself. Her face was wet with tears and a bit of snot.  
  
“I loved her,” Cleo whispered, and Lit patted her head, and sat down on the sidewalk.  
  
“Yeah. She loved you too. Probably still does, in a different way. I never expected it to happen, never looked for it to happen. I sure as hell didn’t give a fuck about romance. Growing up, you know, I did the Greek thing. I’ve been with men, women. I knew I’d eventually marry some princess my dad would have decided on, then have heirs. Love was never really in the cards.” Cleo looked up, eyes red.  
  
“Do you?”  
  
“Love her?” Lit asked, to which Cleo nodded. “Yeah, I do. We can make fun of all these modern humans. We have stupid in-jokes that really only make sense if you were originally from about two thousand years ago.”  
  
Cleo’s expression softened just slightly. “I wanted to save her.”  
  
“You did, in a roundabout deadly sort of way. No offense, but I’m glad you did. We’d have never known if what we had was real, if she had still had that curse.”   
  
“Oh.” Cleo laughed, though it was more sarcastic and teary than anything. “I’m _so_ glad I could help the guy who tried to kill me end up married to my…whatever we were.”  
  
“You never know, maybe in ten years you’ll show up and be a homewrecker.”  
  
“I’m not a guy,” Cleo waved a hand at herself. “Obviously. She’d never…”  
  
“Are you not?” Cleo opened her mouth, eyebrows scrunched together, but Lit cut her off. “Don’t tell me shit about you not having a dick, I don’t care. You’re Leo Valdez aren’t you? You’re a guy.”  
  
“I am…I don’t…know. Maybe…I’m a guy, maybe I’m a girl, maybe I’m neither, maybe I’m both. I don’t know…I don’t understand it all...”  
  
Lityerses shrugged a shoulder.  
“That’s fair. I’ve never cared much about gender anyway. Maybe you are a girl, or a guy, or both, or neither. But, you are Leo Valdez, aren’t you? Calypso loved Leo Valdez, I don’t think she cared so much what package that comes in.”  
  
Cleo clenched her fists, but had a resolute expression.  
  
“Cleo!” A voice shouted, and suddenly, Lityerses was blocking an attack from Bianca, who had appeared out of the shadows behind the man.  
  
“Oh, kid, if I hadn’t fought your brother before, that would have been impressive.” Lityerses sent the girl a sly smile, until he found himself being hit forwards, and stumbling.  
  
“You’ve never fought me, though.” Luke’s voice was dark, and he floated in the air behind Lityerses. “Get _away_ from my friend.”

"Oh, you," Lityerses looked highly interested suddenly. "You're right, I've never fought you before. Heard of you though."  
  
“Guys, it’s fine. I know him.” Cleo yelped, waving hands. Luke’s expression softened like a flip was switched, and he dropped down to the ground. Bianca similarly put her bow down but didn’t look happy about it.  
  
“What happened?”  
“You left-“   
“ _Where are your clothes_?”   
  
Bianca and Luke began talking over one another, worried and confused about what had led up to this situation.  
  
“You’ve got a good set of friends, once again. I think we’ll be seeing each other more in the not so distant future, homewrecker.” Lityerses swung a leg over the side of a motorcycle and revved it up.  
  
“ _Please_ don’t call me that,” the fire user blanched, getting strange looks from Bianca and Luke.  
  
“Okay, Leo it is.” Lit grinned, before waving goodbye and disappearing into the dark of night.  
  
  
\---  
  
  
It didn't really go as planned, when Festus finally touched down on the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California.   
  
It was a less than thrilling outcome to their mystery.  
  
It turned out that it wasn't a minor God, or monster, or entity planning world domination, that stole the relic.   
It was an entire herd of Fauns.   
  
They became convinced the relic would bring them health and luck when they overheard about the temple being built in honor of Koronis. At first, they attempted to visit the small staff of Asclepius, but the crows wouldn’t let them near it. Seeing their luck dwindle, they decided instead on simply stealing the object and then selling it back to Apollo.   
It wasn't the best thought out plan, but Fauns weren't known for their planning ability. Many were killed by Koronis’ crows initially, but there were many Fauns that were willing to throw themselves into the firing line.  
  
It took Luke and Bianca a bit by surprise, having not been around fauns much. Cleo had already spent some time in New Rome and recognized the differences between fauns and satyrs.  
The biggest difference being, what fauns lacked in smarts verses their satyr cousins, they made up for in violence when needed. While normally harmless, relaxed, even lazy; if provoked or pushed to action, fauns could be quite the serious foe. In Roman tradition, it was the Faun that inspired fear in those traveling alone or at night.  
  
The trio could understand why now. Especially when there were roughly 50 of them.  
  
They didn't want to kill the fauns, but they were hard to hold down.   
Bianca fired arrows into the legs to wound them and used small scale shadow travel to avoid being captured.  
 Luke was swift on his feet, aided by his flying sneakers; he was able to hit the fauns in the back to distract them, so Bianca could then smack them around the head to hopefully just knock them out, or simply knock them off balance. It was a good tag team, but still Luke had only a basic celestial bronze short sword; not wanting to kill left him not able to do much besides smacking fauns with the sheathed blade.  
Cleo was having the hardest time, as they couldn't do much besides threaten them with fire and wrenches. A few fauns ended up with their tails on fire, but otherwise they just sort of encircled her; though Cleo had already encircled herself in fire and refused to leave, but no Faun risked actually stepping through the fire.   
  
“What do we do?” Cleo shouted. “I'm seriously considering feeding a deep fried faun to Festus!”  
  
“ _I_ ,” smack “ _don't_ ,” whap “ _know_!”  
  
“Can you call Festus?” Bianca called, popping up a few feet away in the darkness. She had the relic stuffed in her coat pocket, while fending off another faun. It looked like a small staff of Asclepius, small enough for an infant.  
  
“Yeah!”  
  
“We need to move towards that cliff, get Festus. Then we get on and get out of here. We have the relic. We don't need to defeat them all, and they can’t get us while we’re airborne!” Bianca explained, and Luke and Cleo exchanged a look before getting to business.  
Cleo threw lines of fire, to break up the fauns, while Luke flew around, attempting to distract and discombobulate them. Bianca used the shadows from Cleo’s flames to appear and disappear, closer and closer, but she had limited experience and training with shadow travel, and her jumps were becoming smaller and smaller.   
Eventually, they were close enough to a cliff face for Cleo to scream out for Festus, who had been flying overhead, uncertain of what to do. Luke flew the number of feet across the gap to the bronze dragon, and Bianca popped into being just above Festus. She had overshot it some and looked far too exhausted to correct it. Thankfully, Luke grabbed her by the back of her coat and dragged her back on more securely.  
  
Cleo grinned, looked back at the hoard of Fauns running up at them, and took a running jump off the side of the rocks and onto the bronze dragon who roared in triumph.   
  
But, it was a little too soon for celebration, and a little too short a jump.   
A faun grabbed onto Cleo’s leg mid air, and while Luke grabbed Cleo’s hand and began to pull her up, the faun was invested in keeping Cleo there.  
It bit into Cleo’s calf, deeply, and gravity did the rest of the work for it. It couldn’t hold on, and the faun fell into the ocean below, taking a chunk of Cleo’s leg with it, trapped in between bloodied blunt teeth.   
  
Cleo cried out in pain as Luke and Bianca pulled her up. Hands bunched into Luke’s coat, Cleo tried to keep from lighting her friend on fire, as Bianca pulled her leg up to inspect.  
Bianca bandaged it up to the best of her ability, but whispered to Luke that Cleo was going to need either ambrosia and/or stitches, because the bleeding hadn't let up much. It wasn’t a small wound. Cleo heard none of it, because she was getting progressively more light headed, and that grip she had on Luke began to loosen.  
  
A sharp noise caught their attention as they flew. Festus looked up and gurgled and spat just a small fire ball, more in attentiveness and recognition than anything threatening. A giant eagle soared through the sky towards them; Bianca froze while Luke cursed under his breath.   
  
Cleo was loopy enough she shouted ' _birdy_!' before toppling sideways off the bronze dragon.   
  
After that, it was a bit of a blur, and Cleo didn't really begin to recognize her surroundings until about a half hour later when she sat up in New Rome. Specifically, it seemed to be Hazel and Frank’s house in New Rome.  
  
“Oh good, you're awake.” Frank said, walking over. Hazel brought over a glass of water, and a cookie which Cleo took happily.  
  
“What happened? How’d we get here?” Cleo mumbled chewing on the dessert.  
  
“You fainted from blood loss and altitude after your fight with the fauns. Bianca and Luke are in the other room with Nico, Reyna, and others. You’ve all had ambrosia, you especially given the degree of the wound you suffered. It’s a good thing we had Apollo around. You needed extra treatment.” Hazel explained. “Congratulations on retrieving the relic, though. You guys did a pretty good job for your first mission.”  
  
Cleo blinked a few times before starting to smile, but it ran off her face when she realized the look Hazel and Frank were actually giving her. They were not smiling.  
  
“Oh, wait.” Hazel feigned confusion. “Frank, _was_ it her first quest?”  
  
“No, Hazel.” Frank said, playing along. “It wasn't. She wasn't at all authorized to go on a quest, nor was one even declared. Cleo appeared to have broken any number of rules, all the while putting herself in mortal danger.”  
  
“Um.” Cleo began, shrinking back into the couch. The cookie didn’t taste so good anymore.  
  
“What would have happened if Frank hadn't been there to catch you?” Hazel asked, tapping her foot.   
  
“…Festus or Luke would have caught me?” Cleo asked cautiously and realized very quickly it was the wrong answer.  
  
“You could have died!” Frank yelled loudly, voice booming off the walls.   
  
“I mean,” Cleo shrugged weakly, voice small. “Been there done that?”  
  
This was also the wrong thing to say.  
  
“You're grounded forever.” Frank said simply. Hazel nodded far too quickly.  
  
“Forever and ever.”  
  
“What?! You can't ground me! You’re only like, 25! I don't even go here!”  
  
“We can arrange something!” Hazel said lowly, and Cleo didn’t think she was exaggerating.   
  
“We just wanted to prove we could do it! We wanted you guys to have a little faith in us, is that such a bad thing?!” Cleo stood up but faltered just slightly when she put weight on her left leg. Both Hazel and Frank rushed to steady her. Their angry expressions slipped into worry for just a second.  
  
“I'm not a child!” Pointed stare. “Okay, I'm a little bit of a child, but I’m about your age when you started, right Hazel?” Hazel looked away.  
  
“Those were different circumstances, and technically I was born in the 30’s so...”  
  
“Then _technically_ I’m like 27 or 28, if we’re going by the last time we were alive!” Cleo yelled, and Hazel gave her the ‘you’re not wrong but I don’t want to admit that’ look. “We're going to do it again, and again. And again. Until we're your age and telling people _my_ age the same thing you're telling me now. You can't stop it, you can't ground us forever. Just trust us a bit, and train us!” Cleo pleaded. “We can't spend our lives in a cage just because you're scared!”  
  
“We can't lose you again. I can’t watch you die again.” Frank’s voice was quiet, but that was scarier than Frank being loud. His expression was pained, angry, his face reddish. Hazel even looked a bit taken back, before her pretenses fell, and she simply looked sad.  
“You fell off Festus, you were covered in blood. Luke was holding onto Bianca and couldn’t come after you. Festus wouldn’t have been fast enough. If I hadn’t had been there, if Hazel and Arion hadn’t been there. You would be dead right now. It’s not a question. It’s a fact.”  
  
“I'm sorry,” Cleo said softly. “I don't know what it was like, and I'm sorry. I just...I just...”   
  
Cleo looked down at the tile flooring below her bare feet and could feel her vision swimming.  
  
“I used… to be your friend and now,” Cleo bit her lip. “Now… I'm just a _burden_. I'm just a child to you. I _remember_ more…. I ...just wanted to _be_ more than that.” Cleo went to wipe her eyes, but before she had the chance was enveloped in a tight hug from Hazel and Frank both.   
  
“I know,” Frank said, voice raw. “I know, I'm sorry. We're sorry. But we worry, we worried then and we'll worry now. You attract trouble. Don’t think I wasn’t constantly worried when I was 16 too.”  
  
“Just, please tell someone next time.” Hazel leaned down and kissed the top of Cleo’s head. “Wait to officially be given a quest, and proper supplies and back up. I know we’re not your parents, we don’t _want_ to be your parents. You _are_ our friend, Cleo. That’s why we don’t want you hurt. Just, please trust us enough to tell us things. Don’t keep secrets that you don’t have to.” Hazel urges, grabbing Cleo's cheeks and making her look the other woman in the eyes.  
  
“M'kay. I promise.” Cleo said between smushed cheeks, and got another Hazel kiss on the cheek, and then Frank kissed her on the top of the head.   
  
“Come on guys, cut it out.” Cleo laughed nervously, face feeling warm. “I’m already embarrassed a goat man ripped out my Achilles tendon…”  
  
“You're still grounded.” Frank said firmly, seemingly remembering he had been angry. “Just…not forever. Your wound should be good as new in a day or two though, Apollo gave you a blessing, before turning the relic to Koronis.”  
  
“Oh. Cool. Good.” Cleo nodded a few times, thinking it over. “ So, uh. Can...um, can I uh...carry out my punishment here? In New Rome? Like, if I’m …actually grounded.” Cleo asked shiftily, glancing at the door leading to the other room.  
  
Frank and Hazel looked at each other.   
  
“Why?” Hazel asked suspiciously. Cleo shrugged and looked at the ground.   
  
Frank grabbed her chin and made her look up. “Cleo. You know the whole, you need to tell us things conversation we literally just had five seconds ago?”  
  
“It's...just.” She gulped and glanced at Hazel. “I…don't think Percy and Annabeth like me very much...and Piper and Jason are always gone...and Nico might kill me, probably. After he kills Luke.”  
  
“Nico won't kill you. He’s more relieved than anything, right now. I don’t think he actually blames any of you.” Hazel sighed but had a small smile. “People like you just fine, Cleo. It’s just you broke about fifty camp rules.”  
  
“Except only Luke and I will get blamed.” Cleo muttered, and received a questioning look.  
  
“Why would you think that Bianca wouldn't be punished?” Frank asked.  
  
“Because,” Cleo started with an eyeroll. “She's everyone’s favorite. Because the first Bianca died youngest. Because she's Nico and your sister. Everyone wants to _protect_ Bianca, like she’s precious. Because she was made special. Because she’s one of the big three. They just treat Luke like he's always conning someone, or about to go crazy and try to take over the world again. If he so much as sleeps in too long, someone will bring up Kronos.” Hazel and Frank looked surprised and started to open their mouth, but Cleo continued.

“And they treat me like....” Cleo trailed off, biting her lip. “Leo hid stuff, right? And the whole, fire user of Hephaestus thing…They don’t like me, either.”  
  
“You hide things all the time Cleo, we’re literally only talking about this right now because you hid your quest from us.” Frank said flatly, and Cleo winced. “I'm sorry you feel that way, though. I know for a fact that all of us, and all the camp councilors love all of you guys. The whole camp loves you.”  
  
Cleo snorted, and crossed her arms. “ _Right._ ”  
  
“What?”  
  
Cleo didn’t say anything for a minute, looking away. “They… act like I'm some dirty secret. Ever since the beans were spilled about who we were. The campers say things like…'Bianca and Luke are Bianca and Luke, so why is Leo _Cleo'_. They say…’something went wrong when they made Cleo’….. Or,” Cleo bunched up her hands, feeling tears well up. “I heard a kid from the Ares cabin say, ‘I guess Leo must have had _parts_ blasted off when he exploded. That’s why he came back, ‘ _as a girl_ ’.”  
  
“That's....” Hazel’s face fell, and she looked horrified. She exchanged a look with Frank, they'd need to get names of whoever was bullying Cleo.   
“Oh, Cleo. I'm _so_ sorry. A soul is a soul. Bianca and Luke would still be themselves no matter what gender they were assigned at birth.” Hazel said softly, running a hand through Cleo’s hair. “You don’t deserve to hear those kinds of things.”  
  
“You're not a dirty secret. You're perfect, the way you are, the way you've always been.” Frank agreed. “I didn't see it at first, when I first met Leo, and I'm sad I let that get in the way of things. You were and have always been an amazing friend, and an amazing person.”  
  
Cleo's shoulders began to shake, and she got pulled in for a second hug.   
  
“There’s um, something else.” Cleo said with a shaky voice. “Something that happened on the quest. I keep…”  
  
Frank and Hazel looked at her questioningly, with no judgement.  
  
“I keep having memories. I think. But, it’s like it’s overlapping, fusing. I don’t feel like I’m thinking back on something that happened to Leo anymore. It’s like I have two sets of memories at the same time. One hotel we stayed in, they asked how old I was, and I told them I would be turning 18 in July. I know Morse code now, apparently? I unconsciously keep tapping out the same things.” She started to pace with a slight limp. “I have duel childhood memories. I had dreams about my mom, about Esperanza Valdez. When I look in the mirror sometimes, I’m confused I don’t look older. And I think… there’s more. There’s more of _me_ than of Cleo.”  
  
“That name feels like a… _lie_ now. I don’t think…I’m _Cleo_ ,” Leo admitted. “Not anymore. That’s not my name.”  
  
“Cleo?” Someone called from the next room, and a door creaked open to reveal a nervous looking Bianca and a trepidatious Luke. As soon as Bianca saw her friend was up and about, she ran in to hug the other girl.  


Were those the pronouns Leo wanted to use anymore? Leo didn’t know.   


“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Bianca squeezed hard, and Leo laughed awkwardly, glancing at Frank and Hazel. They didn’t look mad or upset, but they looked…a way that Leo wasn’t sure. Luke grabbed Leo up and spun her around.  
“You nearly gave me a heart attack, brat.” Luke laughed, before setting down the younger, and tugging on one of Leo’s ears. “I’m glad you’re okay. You get the lecture too?”  


“…Which lecture?” Leo asked after a second.  
  
“The, you know, 'we’re concerned about your safety, you need to tell us where you’re going, I’m going to string you up from the rafters if you hurt my baby sister'. That lecture. Maybe mine was a bit different.” Luke glanced back at Nico walking into the room behind them. Looked like Annabeth and Percy had arrived too. And, much to Luke’s chagrin, so had Thalia.  
  
“Well, pretty close. Not the last part so much,” Leo chanced a smile. “So, uh, I think I need to talk to you guys about something.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leo returns, but was never gone.
> 
> There's not much interest in this story, so I'll be heading back to other fics, but I wanted to finish off the Quest first. I may add more to this in the future, but I'm not certain. I did want to go more into Luke and Bianca as well as Leo. I also wanted to touch in a bit more years into the future in this canon, where Leo is more secure in their non-binary orientation.  
> So, we'll see, but for now this story is on a more official break. Thanks to those who have read and commented.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading folks, I hope this wasn't stupidly confusing. I'd hope given the Magnus Chase books the idea of a nb character wouldn't be too confusing, but if anyone has any questions, just ask. 
> 
> I'm also debating if I want to involve other characters that have died like Beckendorf, Zoe, Octavian, etc


End file.
